RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi bench, on Wednesday ordered the formation of a medical board to ascertain the gender of a man who has been accused of being a woman pretending to be a man in order to get married.

The accused married a 16-year-old girl in Rawalpindi in a court marriage without the consent of their respective families.

The girl’s father has filed a petition in the LHC seeking custody of his daughter and has alleged that her husband is a woman.

Amjad Janjua, the counsel for the complainant, informed Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan that the accused had changed his gender on his CNIC in order to marry the complainant’s teenage daughter.

He said the accused was a tenant of the complainant and worked as a teacher for a nearby school and at the time was identified as a woman.

He said the accused fraudulently changed his gender on his CNIC and driver’s licence to marry the girl. He added that medical certificates, educational documents and employment records proved that the accused is female. The accused denied the allegation and said he was not female, after which the court ordered the constitution of a medical board to determine his gender and sought a report next week.

The hearing was adjourned until July 20.

According to health journals, hormonal disorder, particularly imbalance in androgen hormones, can cause male characteristics among females. Similarly, a change in hormones among men can affect their masculine characteristics. However, very few people, experiencing such changes in Pakistan, go public about their condition.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2020