For the hundreds of thousands of individuals who identify as transgender in India, job hunting can be difficult and sometimes a miserable experience. In a recent case, the 28-year-old transgender woman was denied a cabin crew job by Air India recruitment drive. Shanavi Ponnusamy filed a petition that she was discriminated against owing to her sexual preference and was hence, rejected the post. The case has taken a significant turn after Supreme Court on July 23 agreed to hear the plea filed by the aspirant.

Shanavi completed her engineering course in 2010 from Dr. Sivanthi Aditanar College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu. The 28-year-old underwent to a sex change surgery to become a woman in April 2014 after which, she worked with Sutherland Global Services (airline sector) for more than a year to achieve experience in the field. Shanavi officially worked with Air India customer support for both domestic and international in Chennai, before applying for the post of female cabin crew for its Northern Region.

Much to her disappointment, she was not shortlisted for the post. Shanavi alleged that the vacancies were reserved only for women candidates and since she is a transgender, she could not make it. The 28-year-old cabin crew aspirant stated in her petition that Air India’s rejection based on her sexual orientation violates her Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 16 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Shanavi admits to apply in the female category as there was no option as a transgender.

On the other hand, Air India claimed that Shanavi was not discriminated because of her gender but was given an equal opportunity as a woman. The national carrier further said that her non-selection is based on her failure to score a minimum 55 per cent needed to qualify the Personality Attitude Test (PAT) and Group Dynamics (GD).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 24, 2018 01:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).