{"id":693,"date":"2016-03-24T17:33:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T17:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=693"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:52:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:52:56","slug":"transgender-police-officer-prithika-yashini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693","title":{"rendered":"An Officer and a Transgender"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A<\/span>s far as inclusivity in schools goes, a <\/p>learning centre<\/a> in Kochi is setting the bar pretty high. Sahaj International, which was inaugurated recently, will help transgender adults complete their education. The residential centre is specifically aimed at adult dropouts who have been unable to complete schooling due to the stigma associated with their gender or sexual identity. So far, the centre has enrolled 10 pupils, aged between 25 and 50.\n\nIt is no surprise that the initiative was unveiled in Kerala, the first of our states to have a policy<\/a> for transgender people, aimed at ending discrimination against them. In fact, our southern states, including Tamil Nadu, have shown the rest of the country the path they ought to follow. In November 2015, K Prithika Yashini became India\u2019s<\/a> first transgender police officer.\n\nYashini\u2019s journey was nothing short of an ordeal, but she was not about to allow a piece of paper to defeat her. In February 2015, when she responded to a Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board call for police sub-inspectors, her application was rejected because her documents listed her original birth name and gender: Pradeep Kumar, male. The board could not understand how Pradeep Kumar had morphed into Prithika Yashini.\n\nFour years prior, Yashini had undergone sex reassignment surgery to leave behind the body that hadn\u2019t felt her own in 21 years. To make this leap of faith, she had fought her family and every social convention, but this country\u2019s bureaucracy was yet to catch up with her. So Yashini petitioned the Madras High Court pointing out that the application form had only two genders, when the Supreme Court had accorded third gender status to hijras and transgenders in April 2014. The battle continued for nearly a year, but in the end, the court ruled in her favour.\n\nYashini aced the physical tests, including the 400-metre sprint, long jump, and throwball, missing out on the 100-metre sprint by a second. With solid interventions from the court, which expressly directed the Tamil Nadu police to hire her, she finally became a sub inspector in November 2015. In doing so, Yashini ensured a place for herself in history: Not only did she become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, her case also pushed the Tamil Nadu civic administration to include the third gender category in all recruitment forms.\n\nThis legacy sits easy on Yashini\u2019s small, lean frame. As she steps off the local metro on a cool Friday afternoon in Chennai\u2019s Nungambakkam, she tells me she is wearing a red top because she wants to be \u201cvisible\u201d. But she needs no help in that department, considering the number of TV appearances and interviews she\u2019s had in the last few months, detailing her incredible journey from Salem.\n\nYashini, born Pradeep Kumar, had always felt more like a girl than a boy. \u201cI always had feminine habits,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI played games that girls play, and preferred being with girls over boys.\u201d She was constantly teased by her classmates and peers at the Neelambal Higher Secondary School. \u201cIt got so bad that at one point I couldn\u2019t use either the male or female toilets,\u201d she says. Bad enough for her to attempt suicide twice.\n\n\"transgender\"\n

\n

In 2011, Yashini had undergone sex reassignment surgery to leave behind the body that hadn\u2019t felt her own in 21 years.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nBy the time she was 16, she decided that she was in fact a woman constrained by a male body. It still took until her final year as a computer science graduate, to inform her parents about her decision. As expected, that did not go down well with her shocked family \u2013 50-year-old father Kalaiarasan, a truck driver, 45-year-old tailor mother Sumathi, and brother, Rahul Kumar \u2013 who dragged her from temple to temple, in the hope that the gods would intervene.\n\n

In living this life as a free spirit, Yashini has become a hero for both men and women. And everyone in between<\/blockquote>\n\nWhen the gods failed, her family reposed their faith in medical science. Yashini was taken to the Ayanavaram Mental Hospital in Chennai. \u201cI still remember one patient there who kept hitting his forehead with his palms and repeating, \u2018amma onnu, appa rendu\u2019 (one mother, two fathers),\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a terrible situation.\u201d\n\nBy 2011, she had had enough. The only way to maintain her sanity was to run away to Chennai in the hope that the city would offer her the asylum of anonymity. There would also be support \u2013 her new life in the metropolis started on a lucky note when she befriended two other transgenders, Bhanu and Selvi, at the bus station itself and moved in with them. To support herself, Yashini got a job as a warden in a girls\u2019 hostel, where no one knew about her gender, and later at the NGO Thozhi, that helped other transgenders cope with their identity.\n\nAt the same time, Yashini also started the process of her own transition at the Kilpauk Medical Hospital and College in the city, undergoing six months of intensive counselling, tests, and hormone therapy. The actual surgery took only about four hours. \u201cI was terrified,\u201d she says. \u201cBut the desire to be a woman was more than the fear of pain.\u201d It was three months before Yashini could get back on her feet.\n\nIn the intervening years, Yashini hasn\u2019t once broken her stride. She\u2019s worked as an app developer and plans to appear for the IPS next. In living this life as a free spirit, she has become a hero for both men and women. And everyone in between.\n\nWith inputs from Tushar Kaushik <\/em>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[62,65,66,37,19,1264,1265,1266,1267],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gender","tag-arre","tag-arre-reads","tag-arre-text-articles","tag-chennai","tag-india","tag-police-officer","tag-prithika-yashini","tag-third-gender","tag-transgender"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Officer and a Transgender<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Officer and a Transgender\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-24T17:33:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T13:52:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1483695178-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1258\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sandhya Ravishankar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"An Officer and a Transgender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sandhya Ravishankar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sandhya Ravishankar\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/335defa7e333f68e7f0b1bf22b56efbd\"},\"headline\":\"An Officer and a Transgender\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-24T17:33:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T13:52:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693\"},\"wordCount\":938,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1483695178-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"arre\",\"arre reads\",\"arre text articles\",\"Chennai\",\"India\",\"Police Officer\",\"Prithika Yashini\",\"Third Gender\",\"transgender\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Gender\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693\",\"name\":\"An Officer and a Transgender\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1483695178-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-24T17:33:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T13:52:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/335defa7e333f68e7f0b1bf22b56efbd\"},\"description\":\"To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1483695178-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1483695178-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1258},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=693#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"An Officer and a Transgender\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/335defa7e333f68e7f0b1bf22b56efbd\",\"name\":\"Sandhya Ravishankar\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b45e63491e1981ea863c3c188556d9d5f337b3ea9ddb7db739adedd71d95efa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b45e63491e1981ea863c3c188556d9d5f337b3ea9ddb7db739adedd71d95efa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b45e63491e1981ea863c3c188556d9d5f337b3ea9ddb7db739adedd71d95efa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sandhya Ravishankar\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=116\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An Officer and a Transgender","description":"To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An Officer and a Transgender","og_description":"To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-03-24T17:33:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-17T13:52:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1258,"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1483695178-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sandhya Ravishankar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"An Officer and a Transgender","twitter_description":"To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sandhya Ravishankar","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693"},"author":{"name":"Sandhya Ravishankar","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/335defa7e333f68e7f0b1bf22b56efbd"},"headline":"An Officer and a Transgender","datePublished":"2016-03-24T17:33:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T13:52:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693"},"wordCount":938,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1483695178-scaled.jpg","keywords":["arre","arre reads","arre text articles","Chennai","India","Police Officer","Prithika Yashini","Third Gender","transgender"],"articleSection":["Gender"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693","name":"An Officer and a Transgender","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1483695178-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2016-03-24T17:33:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T13:52:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/335defa7e333f68e7f0b1bf22b56efbd"},"description":"To become India\u2019s first transgender police officer, K Prithika Yashini had to pass a tough exam \u2013 that of ascertaining and sticking with her gender identity.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1483695178-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1483695178-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1258},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=693#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An Officer and a Transgender"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/335defa7e333f68e7f0b1bf22b56efbd","name":"Sandhya Ravishankar","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b45e63491e1981ea863c3c188556d9d5f337b3ea9ddb7db739adedd71d95efa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b45e63491e1981ea863c3c188556d9d5f337b3ea9ddb7db739adedd71d95efa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b45e63491e1981ea863c3c188556d9d5f337b3ea9ddb7db739adedd71d95efa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sandhya Ravishankar"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=116"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1483695178-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":695,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions\/695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}