Guwahati: After Bengal and Maharashtra, Assam will see its first transgender judge mediate cases in a national Lok Adalat here on Saturday.

The Kamrup (metro) district legal service authority here has appointed Swati Bidhan Baruah among 20 member judges to mediate cases in a Lok Adalat to be held on the premises of the Kamrup (metro) district and sessions judge here.

Baruah, 26, who filed a PIL in Gauhati High Court last year prompting steps by the state government for a policy for welfare of the third gender, will act as mediator in pre-litigation cases related to finance companies. The bench will be presided over by H. Ali Hazarika, a retired district and sessions judge.

Cases pending in family courts, motor accidents claims tribunals, labour courts and others would be disposed of during the Lok Adalat.

In July last year, Bengal appointed Joyita Mondal as the country's first transgender judge. She was appointed as a member judge during a national Lol Adalat at Islampur in North Dinajpur district.

In February this year, Maharashtra appointed the state's first transgender judge by appointing Vidya Kamble as a member judge in a Lok Adalat in Nagpur.

Baruah's appointment as a member judge in the Lok Adalat came as a hope to over 5,500 transgenders in Assam, but Baruah feels she will consider her mission complete only when she sees transgenders in the state not facing discrimination and employed in regular jobs.

"I hope this will make people realise that transgenders are not untouchables and the stigma we are facing because of lack of a policy for welfare of the community. Transgenders are still taunted in public places and even beaten up by the police. That needs to stop and society should make us feel part of it," Baruah said. Read more via Telegraph