LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice on Wednesday directed the mother of a 24-year-old girl, who wants to undergo a gender-change surgery, to submit documentary evidence of advice/ recommendation of doctors in support of the surgery.

At the outset of the petition`s first hearing, the mother`s lawyer told the court that the girl started feeling physical changes in her body at the age of 14. He said the girl started consulting gynaecologists after she found frequent pain and feel of `gender disorder` unbearable. The lawyer said a doctor at the Fatima Memorial Hospital advised her an ultrasound scan and after going through the report he suggested her to have the surgery (sex-change).

The lawyer said the surgeons the girl approached refused to carry out the surgery due to possibility of a legal action. And the doctors advised her to get permission for the surgery from a court of law, he added.

A government law officer contested the ultrasound scan`s report of the girl and said no gender disorder was clearly mentioned in it.

Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah asked the petitioner to submit the documentary evidence, if any, carrying advice from any qualified doctor for the gender-change surgery.

Hearing was deferred till Nov 24.