Employee Struggles To Change Personal Details After Sex Change Surgery

Sex change surgery is proving to be problematic for a 35-year-old employee, who underwent sex change surgery in 2017. Sonia Pandey in now struggling to get her personal information changed in the official records, which continue to show her as a man even after the sex change surgery. This causes difficulty in the official work and she has been trying to get it changed ever since.

“As I faced trouble in carrying out my job with the new gender identity and changed name, I appealed to the railway officials to allow me to continue my job by changing my gender and name in the official records. I am determined to do so and ready to take this fight to even the Railway Board.” says Pandey

Rajesh Pandey now Sonia, who is employed as a grade one technician in the Izzatnagar (Bareilly) workshop approached the North Eastern Railway general manager’s office in Gorakhpur, in order to get her name changed to Sonia Pandey and sex changed to female. The railway department, for the first time ever has faced such a situation where a person wants to get the sex and name changed and hence this has put them into a huddle.

Pandey had first sent her application to the Izzatnagar workshop general manager. The matter, however, was left unresolved and hence, Pandey then had to approach NER GM (Gorakhpur) for considering the matter. Izzatnagar division falls under NER, headquartered at Gorakhpur. “This is a technical issue and we are looking into the legal aspects,” NER public relations officer CP Chauhan said.

Only Brother Among Four Sisters

Pandey had joined the job in 2003, when her father died. Since she was the only brother among the four sisters, she was given the job as a dependent. In fact, she was married to a local woman and then she realised that she doesn't feel comfortable in the body of a man. She was then divorced and went through a sex change surgery. “As I grew up, I realised that I am a person whose soul has been put in the wrong body. Womanly thoughts would come to me and I took interest in make-up. My family forced me to marry but I told my wife the truth and she agreed to part ways,” Pandey told Hindustan Times.

“With a man’s identity, I was depressed and shattered and often contemplated suicide. Later, someone suggested that I undergo sex-change through surgery,” Pandey said.

Was Depressed While Living In A Man's Identity

“With a man’s identity, I was depressed and shattered and often contemplated suicide. Later, someone suggested that I undergo sex-change through surgery,” Pandey said.

“This gave me a ray of hope but my mother and sisters opposed the decision. As for me, I thought it was better to opt for gender change than to be unhappy every day. It has been two years now and things have started becoming normal,” said Pandey adding, “As I faced trouble in carrying out my job with the new gender identity and changed name, I appealed to the railway officials to allow me to continue my job by changing my gender and name in the official records. I am determined to do so and ready to take this fight to even the Railway Board.”

On being asked about how people react to her transformation, Pandey said, “Initially, they maintained a distance, but later they began mingling and things became normal. What gave me further confidence is the fact that I am not the only one to has changed sex. Many in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities and parts of the world have opted for it.”

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