What is remarkable about Joyita Mondal from West Bengal?
Well, it is only that she is a transgender, and has achieved the unthinkable! Today, she is a judge in a Lok Adalat.
Joyita Mondal was not ‘born’ a girl. She was a boy, born into a traditional Hindu family residing at Kolkata in West Bengal.
Unlike other boys, he loved to wear the clothes of a girl instead, and play with dolls.
As he grew older, the boy resorted to a ‘secret’ life. Outside the house, he wore girl’s apparel. At home, he remained a male.
Mondal’s family knew nothing about the boy’s secret life or the verbal tortures he faced at school daily.
After completing high school, Mondal obtained permission from his mother to go for a job at Dinajpur, a neighbouring district.
Joyita Mondal remained there permanently as Joyita, the eunuch/hijra. She dressed as a woman, as well as sang and danced openly.
Joyita Mondal then decided to resume her education, through correspondence. She decided to study law too.
Soon after the National Election Commission decided to award voter cards to a category called ‘other’, Joyita obtained hers in 2010.
Her organisation, Dinajpur Notun Alo Society, catered to the welfare of victims of human trafficking, sex workers and beggars.
In 2011, she began counselling sessions for family members and relatives of transgender persons.
Films and street plays served as the medium to sensitise students and teachers associated with private and government schools/colleges.
Joyita’s intelligence and public services fetched her tremendous rewards. On July 8, 2017, a Lok Adalat appointed her as a learned judge. The office of the sub-divisional Legal Services Committee at Islampur in Dinajpur district, gave her this designation.
This Lok Adalat is a civil court linked to Section 25 of the Legal Services Authority Act of 1987.
Currently, Joyita is engaged in undergoing sex re-assignment surgery, in order to transform completely into a woman.
Joyita Mondal is a remarkably inspiring personality, regardless of her sexual preferences. Her ultimate aim is to return every individual’s dignity and self-respect.