At a time when the country was (and still is) grappling with an acute fuel shortage due to the crisis stemming from the Middle East, you would expect the government to be extremely busy in holding war-room meetings, making diplomatic calls and taking stock of the implementation across the nation. But, since our government has already solved all the pressing issues of the country and is guiding the country on the path of ‘Vishwaguru’, it decided to bring in a ‘revolutionary’ bill to totally overhaul the transgender rights in the country and make sure that even those few who receive any benefits are kept deprived from it.

Joke apart, in this Blog, I will explain why the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 is so problematic, regressive and dangerous and holds potential to take the country decades back.

What’s in the bill?

The bill passed by both houses of parliament and then assented by President Droupadi Murmu, takes away the clause of self-identification by trans people. The 2019 act – which has been replaced by this one – in its definition of ‘transgender person’ included trans men, trans women, persons with intersex variations, genderqueer people, and the socio-cultural identities such as kinnar, hijra, aravani and jogta. More importantly, the Section 4(2) of the act granted the whole transgender community the right to self-identify their gender.

What the new bill does is that it limits the recognition of ‘transgender’ to only those with specific socio-cultural identities (kinner, hijra, etc) and some specific intersex variations – basically difference in internal organs, hormonal or chromosome pattern. But it totally rips away the provision of people to self-identify themselves.

The worst part, a provision explicitly states that the definition “shall not include, nor shall ever have been so included, persons with different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities.” 

This effectively leaves anyone who views themselves differently, on the mercy of medical boards and medical officers. Only if they get a certificate confirming that their hormones, chromosome, internal organs are different, will they be identified as a transgender. And the whole concept of trans men, trans women, gay, lesbian or someone with mixed or unclear orientation, cease to exist in records. Also, as you can read, it says “nor shall ever have been so”, which means it also puts the trans people who currently hold their transgender id cards at high risk.

Regressive, Regressive, Regressive

With this bill, the very power of the trans people to ask for their rights has been taken away from them. Now, anyone needing a transgender ID needs to undergo a medical test after which the recommendation will go to District Magistrate, who may issue/reject the certificate or if dissatisfied, refer it to another group of medical experts.

Not just that, specialist doctors who can even look into this aspect are very less in this country, and how many of them will you find in the government hospitals? A huge chunk of trans people are poor, finding it difficult to even make their ends meet. On this, expecting them to make rounds to some bloody medical officers is insulting and reprehensible. And I am not even going into the concerns of harassment and insult that the trans people may have to face on the hands of these officers.

Section 18 of the act explicitly brings strong criminal penalties for “forced transgender identity”. Now, no one would disagree that incidents of child kidnappings to force them into transgender is a reality, and the law should take its course against it. But, the bill’s definition is so broad that it will end up bringing all the NGOs and activists supporting transgenders under its ambit, further discouraging people to come out in support of trans people.

The government’s argument for the bill is that the previous definition was “too broad” and they are making the amends to identify the “genuinely oppressed persons”. Now, this is an extremely absurd and ridiculous argument.

NSP (SP) leader and trans right activist, Anish Gawande rightly pointed that the 2011 census (sadly the last one that happened) identified only 4.8 lakh transgenders in the country, a number which is nowhere close the reality. Out of them, only 36,000 transgender ID cards were issued by the government. On top of that, the usage of transgender funds stands at just 11%. So, what ‘misuse’ the government is even talking about when there is no use at all?

If the government was so concerned for the “genuinely oppressed” why it didn’t take the suggestion from the trans community or even the transgender body of India. It believes that some people falsely pretend to get identified as transgender to avail the benefits. Is this a joke? Can you find me just one straight person, who is ready to be identified as trans publicly? In a country where being trans is an abuse and only guarantee you have is that of assault, harassment, and discrimination, who will come to claim the false identity. At a time when you haven’t even covered the whole trans community under a safety net, what sense does it make to go for mass exclusion.

The image effectively depicts the Trans Bill 2026 (Photo: The Week)

Being Trans in today’s India

In 2014, India’s Supreme Court in the historic NALSA judgment, recognized the transgender community as third gender for the first time, and upheld their right to self-determine their gender. In 2018, in another landmark ruling, the apex court in Navtej Johar case, decriminalized homosexuality, effectively making consensual sex between adults of any orientation legal. In 2023, the concern shifted to a larger sphere on the subject of same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court, though appeared sympathetic towards the concerns of trans people, failed to grant them the right in a 3-2 verdict, despite then Chief Justice Chandrachud opining for it.

So, you can see, even if quite late, but the country was slowly riding the ladder of progress on this front. From granting identity, to recognizing the right of consensual sex to discussing the prospect of eventually allowing them to marry. But, this one bill – brought amidst all the chaos around fuel shortage and other crisis – totally trashes the whole progress and literally kicks the country back by decades. The top court after same-sex marriage ruling had called on the government to make law for the protection of the whole trans community. Even in their wildest nightmare, the bench hadn’t thought that this is what the government will end up coming with.

The whole autonomy of person’s own body has been turned into a joke. And don’t keep any illusion. All of this is clearly a part of the larger Hindutva project, where only ‘certain’ types of identities can be accepted. The larger aim of the “regressive” and “short-sighted” regime is to make the life of trans community so difficult in the country that no one actually comes forward to get identified as trans. The fact that communities like kinnar, hijra, etc have still got the recognition is because these communities found mention in the ancient Hindu texts. However, if someone actually tries to dig deep intellectually, they will clearly find same-sex relations and stories of other complex sexual orientation in Hindu mythology/history as well, but that may not fit in the oblivion mindset of the current regime.

At the end, I would genuinely like to apologize to the whole trans community for continuously failing you as a nation. Just like ‘Dhurandhar’ movie, I also hope someday a leadership with progressive mindset comes, which will actually care for people of every identity, even the powerless and voiceless.

JAI HIND, and Thank You for Your Attention to This Matter