A transgender woman from Kerala has become the state’s first transgender advocate, registering with the Bar Council of Kerala.
Lakshmi’s accomplishment drew the notice of the State’s Law Minister, P Rajeev, who congratulated her on his official Instagram page.
“Congratulations to Padma Lakshmi who overcame all the hurdles of life and enrolled as the first transgender advocate in Kerala. Becoming the first is always the hardest achievement in history. There are no predecessors on the way to the goal. Obstacles will be inevitable. There will be people to mute and discourage. Padma Lakshmi has written her name in the legal history by overcoming all this,” Mr Rajeev said in the post translated from Malayalam.
“May Padma Lakshmi’s life inspire more people from the transgender sector to enter advocacy,” he added.
He applauded the young lawyer’s efforts to carve a career for herself in the ace of a culture that is not always kind or welcoming.
She is among the 1,500 law graduates who received their Bar enrollment certificates on Sunday at a ceremony hosted by the Bar Council of India (BCI).
Padma Lakshmi’s accomplishment follows in the footsteps of Joyita Mondal, India’s first transgender judge. In 2017, she was appointed to the Lok Adalat of Islampur in West Bengal.
Vidya Kamble, a transgender activist, was appointed as a member judge in a Lok Adalat in Nagpur, Maharashtra, in early 2018. In that year, Swati Bidhan Baruah of Guwahati became the country’s third transgender judge.
