The Haryana State Commission for Women has directed the Rohtak and the Sonepat police to produce before it by tomorrow a transgender former student of Ashoka University, Sopepat. The ex-student’s parents have lodged a complaint with the commission accusing the university — where the girl studied until 2023 — of “indoctrinating” her.The parents, both academicians, said they had not met their daughter for over two years. The mother showed this reporter her daughter’s childhood pictures with her younger sibling. The father told The Tribune, “My child was bright and scored 96 per cent in Class XII. We spent lakhs on her education at Ashoka University, only to see her being snatched from us.”He said the family was longing to see her. “We don’t know her financial condition and who’s keeping her away from us? We want to help her out and will let her live the way she wants. She could be in trouble. She couldn’t even complete her studies,” he added, his sound tinged in desperation.The transgender allegedly went missing from her home on October 24, 2023. The family lodged an FIR and based on call records, she was traced to the residence of an Ashoka University employee, Sushmita Anant. The parents alleged when the police reached Anant’s house, the university administration “helped their daughter escape”.The transgender was found two days later and she told the Sonepat police she left her home because of “parental abuse”, and that “she no longer wanted to return”. She maintained she was a major and had the right to reside wherever she wished. She alleged threat from her family and sought protection. She repeated the statement before the court and the case was closed.On May 27, 2024, the woman approached the Delhi High Court to “secure protection and personal liberty”. She told the HC Bench that she “wanted to choose her own life and didn’t want to interact with her family”. The Bench also interacted with the transgender’s parents and her grandfather, all of whom said they “didn’t intend to communicate with their child against her wishes, or interfere in her life”.But the dissatisfied parents didn’t give up. They started believing that a group of transgender activists, Ashoka University faculty members and lawyers were behind their daughter’s “changed behaviour” and approached the chairperson of the state women’s commission. At today’s hearing, the woman’s father alleged that the university faculty was “indoctrinating students to turn transgender, and that the National Investigation Agency should conduct an investigation”. He specifically made the charge against trans-rights activist and Associate Professor of Biology at Ashoka University, Bittu Kaveri.The hearing took place in the presence of the media. When Kaveri objected to the media’s presence, the women commission Chairperson Renu Bhatia retorted, “Her parents are waiting to see their daughter. It’s a serious matter. Girls are missing, where do they go? Who is using them? How many students have changed their gender at the university? We will not force the woman to meet her parents, but want to know the condition she is living in. That’s why we are asking for her physical presence.”The woman’s lawyer, also present at the hearing, said she was ready to appear through video-conferencing to demonstrate “she was of sound mind and body”, but Bhatia didn’t agree.University Registrar Sachin Sharma, specially summoned by Bhatia, either remained quiet or expressed complete ignorance about the matter. Sharma told the women’s commission that the university didn’t know where the former student was. But when The Tribune specifically asked him about the allegation of faculty members indoctrinating students to turn transgender, Sharma didn’t respond and walked away.