The Maharashtra home department has fixed physical test criteria for recruitment of transpersons into the police force, days after the state government told the Bombay High Court that it will create a new window for such candidates, an official order said.

Under the transgender category, the candidates will need to self-identify themselves as male or female and can accordingly appear for the physical test, the order said.

The Maharashtra police recently undertook an exercise to fill 18,331 posts, mostly constables, in the force. As part of the fitness test, male candidates had to cover 1,600 metres within a time frame, while women aspirants were asked to run 800 metres. The jobseekers also had to take part in a shot put throw.

As per the new norms for transpersons, for a self-identified female candidate, the height should not be less than 158 cm, while it has to be a minimum of 165 cm for a self-identified male, the home department order said.

As part of the physical tests, self-identified male candidates will have to take part in the 1,600-metre and 100-metre runs. The shot put weight is 8 kg for such candidates, said an official.

For self-identified women candidates, the running distances are 800 metres and 100 metres, while the shot put weight has been kept at 4 kg, said the official.

Chest criteria will not be considered for transgender candidates, the official added.

The physical test norms were decided on the basis of a report submitted by a six-member panel, including two doctors and a psychologist, formed by the state government. It was headed by Sanjay Kumar, director-general (training and special squads).

In Nagpur rural police, one transgender candidate applied for the post of a constable, while five applications were received by the Nagpur city police.

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