Dharmapuri: K. Prithika Yashini, India’s first transgender to join a State police force, has taken up duty in Dharmapuri on Sunday as sub-inspector (SI) after being trained successfully in Chennai.

As reporters waited today at the office of Dharmapuri superintendent of police Bandi Gangadhar, Yashini reported for duty and has been posted in the Law and Order department there. However, to the disappointment of waiting media personnel, the third gender cop was not ready to speak to reporters and merely said, “I cannot speak without the permission of my officer.”

It looks that Yashini is being careful to avoid unwanted issues as the transgender has joined the uniform service after great struggle and because of the Madras HC’s intervention, though the TN Uniformed Services Recruitment Board did not have a third gender category.

Yashini, born in 1990 in Salem, as the son of an auto driver P.Kalai Arasan and Sumathi, was named as Pradeep Kumar who later changed her name as Prithika Yashini after the sex change operation with the help of her community people in Chennai.

Her life was very difficult in Chennai though she worked as warden in a hostel, NGO and also in a hospital before getting reunited with her family after three years since she left her home in 2011.

Yashini came to the limelight because of her decision to join the Tamil Nadu police as sub-inspector. She faced many difficulties at every stage of the procedure. Finally, she has been able to join the service, thanks to the Madras High court's intervention last year.