Transwoman sues Air India for denying job, airline to sue her back for ‘loss of goodwill’

A transgender, Shanavi Ponnusamy, has sued flag carrier Air India and took the matter to Supreme Court after being denied a job at the airline four times. She alleged Air India did not have a policy in place to hire transgenders. In a reply, Air India is planning to sue the transwoman back.

Defending their case, the company in an affidavit, said, as reported by The Print, “As a result of the frivolous petition, (Air India) has suffered an immense loss to its goodwill and reputation, for which it reserves the right to sue the petitioner for damages.”

Replying back to the arguments, Air India filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court stating that the airline had always stood for gender equality. It also cited all-women crew that flew around the world to mark this year’s International Women’s day.

However, representing Shanavi case, senior advocate Anand Grover told the court that the hiring policy itself had to change. He said, “She is a transgender and to test her as a woman would be incorrect.”

Though the Supreme Court ruled legal recognition to transgenders and eunuchs as the ‘third gender’, Air India hires people who identify as such under the traditional gender categories. Shanavi had applied for a cabin crew position with Air India after working for over a year at Sutherland Global Services in 2016, but was denied. Over the year, the model tried made several attempts, but each time she received a negative reply, but all were turned down.

Disclosing the details, she said, as reported by the news website, “In my first attempt, I told Air India that I am a transwoman and cannot apply under the ‘female’ category. Since my application itself was denied, I applied as a ‘female’. However, all their tests are a subjective assessment of personality. Since they already know I am a transwoman, I have not escaped their discrimination.”

Born male, and then legally changed her gender, Shanavi had written to President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Narendra Modi seeking their intervention. PMO in its reply informed her that Air India’s current policy had no place to accommodate a separate transgender category.

Shanavi even made a contact in the civil aviation ministry, Anshul Mishra, who informed her, “He personally called up a higher-up in Air India and said they should change their policy. But that person disagreed and said I was trying to force them into hiring me.”

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