India court asks police to help US transgender man go home

An Indian court has ordered the police to help a transgender man who was allegedly tricked by his parents into coming to the country, return home to the US.

Shivy, 18, is an Indian citizen living in the US since the age of three.

He alleged that his parents took away his passport and green card and tried to forcibly marry him off to a man.

Last year India's Supreme Court recognised transgender people as a third gender in a landmark ruling.

On Monday, the Delhi High Court directed Shivy's parents to "stop harassing him", and return his identity and travel documents so that he could return home.

Justice Siddharth Mridul said Shivy would "travel unaccompanied and will not be subjected to any harassment by the extended family upon arrival in the US".

The Delhi police was also directed to protect Shivy until he left the country.

Reports say the man's mother, who appeared in the court, returned his documents, agreed to pay his tuition fees and provide air tickets for his return to the US.

Shivy, who was born female but identifies as male, told BBC Hindi that his parents brought him to the north Indian city of Agra to "fix" him, once they found out that he had a girlfriend.

The Delhi High Court termed the alleged harassment as nothing short of "bigotry" and said that India was a land of tolerance.

Transgender activists and the support group Nazariya arranged legal counsel and shelter for Shivy in Delhi after he ran away from Agra in September.