Indian Navy sailor Shabi facing termination for undergoing sex change
Indian Navy officer Shabi, formerly a man, is on the verge of termination for having undergone sex reassignment surgery. Her world was upset when Navy recommended for her discharge as it is no place for transgenders! However, Shabi has only one question, "How can a 'man' the Indian Navy deemed fit for the job suddenly be declared unfit because of an organ change?"
Shabi, formerly called MK Giri, joined the Indian Navy's Marine Engineering Department in 2010 when she was 18. She was posted at the office of INS Eksila's Commanding Officer under the Eastern Naval Command in Andhra Pradesh's Vizag. She always felt uncomfortable and felt trapped inside her male body. In 2016, after consulting a Vizag doctor, she underwent sex change operation in New Delhi.
After the surgery, she returned to Vizag and joined her duty. When her officers came to know about the surgery, she was allegedly kept in a psychiatric ward for six months and mentally harassed. They reportedly tried to prove she was mentally unfit to serve in Navy but failed. Navy sources say her termination case has been taken up by the Defense Ministry.
Shabi stated: "I have not lost my potential and still able enough to work in the Navy. I can still pull the trigger of a gun to shoot the enemy, why am I not fit enough to serve my country?"
