The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Centre and others on a plea for establishing a welfare board for transgenders and to appoint a committee to promptly probe reports of their alleged gross abuse by the police.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notice to the Union government and others on a PIL by a Mumbai-based organisation, Kinner Ma Ekamajik Sanstha Trust.
The petitioner led by advocate C R Jaya Sukin contended that transgenders should be treated with the same dignity and respect as others since they suffered discrimination for ages and were deprived of social and cultural participation.
The counsel said that it was a sensitive matter and the welfare board for transgenders was needed to address their social welfare issues.
The plea has said that according to the 2011 Census, the total population of transgenders is around 4.87 lakh with literacy rate of 57.06 per cent.
Referring to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019, the plea said Parliament had passed the bill to protect transgender rights but the new law was inadequate on several fronts.
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