Meera Kuntal, a transwoman teacher in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, underwent a gender-affirming surgery in order to marry her student, Kalpana Fouzdar on Sunday. The teacher at Nagla Tula village’s Government Secondary School now identifies himself as Aarav Kuntal.
Aarav Kuntal told the media that he always wanted to change his gender and that he underwent his first medical procedure for the same in December 2019. “I always wished to undergo surgery to change my gender. I had my first surgery in December 2019,” Kuntal said of his transition to male gender.
Then-Meera saw Kalpana for the first time in one of her physical education classes and fell in love with her on the playground.
Kalpana, a state-level Kabaddi player, stated that their feelings were mutual and that her teacher’s sex was immaterial to her.
“I loved him from the beginning. Even if he had not undergone the [gender affirmation] surgery, I would have married him,” Kalpana said.
Aside from gender dysphoria, media reports attribute Aarav’s decision to undergo the sex-change procedure to anticipated difficulties in accepting what would have been a same-sex marriage between the teacher and her student.
According to reports, Kalpana accompanied Aarav to his surgery, for which he had to register multiple times.
Gender change surgery, also known as gender reassignment surgery (GRS) or gender confirmation surgery (GCS), transforms the physical appearance and sexual traits of a transgender or transsexual person to resemble those associated with their identified gender. Such procedures have recently become more prevalent and recognized in India.
Last year, Anannyah Kumari Alex, Kerala’s first transwoman radio jockey, was found dead at an apartment near Edapally in Kochi. The police said that Anannyah Kumari ended her life by suicide. She was reportedly suffering from severe physical discomfort for over a year after undergoing sex reassignment surgery at a private hospital in the city.