The Delhi High Court has dismissed the plea of a man who sought the quashing of criminal proceedings against him for allegedly molesting a woman by claiming that he was in the process of transitioning to a female himself and that he was never attracted to a woman. The accused claimed that he was suffering from gender dysphoria since childhood and identified himself as a woman before the Court.
He claimed, the relationship between him and the accuser was that of two sisters and therefore, he could not have molested her. The accused arrived at the Court dressed in formal woman’s clothing, with make-up on and a feminine hairstyle. Gender dysphoria is a disorder where a person perceives himself to be of the gender opposite to his biological sex.
The accused made these submissions while claiming that the complainant was ready to settle the matter. However, the advocate for the complainant denied categorically that the woman had given her consent to the quashing of the FIR. It was further alleged that in a previous court hearing, the accused got some other lawyer to appear on behalf of the victim without her knowledge and even forged her signatures.
According to the FIR lodged in October 2016, both the accused and the woman worked in the same company in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida in 2014, when he allegedly molested her at a party in a Connaught Place pub. It is also pertinent to note that the recent affidavit annexed with the petition mentions the accused as a man.