The Maharashtra Police have rejected a 29-year-old woman’s application seeking permission to continue in the force after undergoing a sex change operation, The Times of India reported on Monday.

Additional Director General of Police Rajender Singh (Establishment) said that the police manual, recruitment norms and service rules leave no scope to give the woman a positive reply. “This is the first such case in the history of the Maharashtra Police. Citing all legal grounds, we have sent our reply to the Beed Police,” he said.

The constable has been with the Beed Police since 2009. After a few medical tests recently, she had found out that she had a gender identity disorder due to a hormonal imbalance and sought to undergo a sex change operation.

Aurangabad Range Inspector General of Police Milind Bharambe, who is coordinating with the director-general of police’s office as well as the Beed district police, said that there were serious legal grounds to deny permission to the woman. “She was recruited as a woman constable...The selection parameters for women are different than those for men,” he said.

Bharambe added, “Women are recruited under the 30% reservation quota and no male cop can be recruited in a post reserved for a woman,” he said.