New bill will not help transgenders

An opportunity to enact progressive legislation that would have robustly protected the rights of India’s transgenders has been lost, with the government pushing through Parliament a deeply flawed bill on transgender rights. The Transgender Persons
(Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, does take some steps forward. For instance, it recognises gender identity as a non-binary and that a person’s gender identity may not match the one assigned at birth. It also prohibits discrimination against transgenders in education, employment etc and provides for punishment for begging or forced and bonded labour; subjecting them to verbal, physical, emotional or sexual abuse; denying them entry into public places or forcing them to leave the family, village etc. 

However, the proposed legislation is hugely disappointing. It reinforces the bias that trans identities are “neither here nor there” and that they are not “whole” by themselves. It requires a district magistrate to issue them a certificate of gender identity based on recommendations of a district screening committee. In effect, the legislation denies them the right to self-determination of identity, an important right guaranteed earlier by the Supreme Court. The district screening committee is to comprise a medical officer and a psychiatrist among others, reaffirming the old view that transgenders are victims of medical, especially mental problems. Transgender activists have also raised the pertinent point that begging should not be treated an offence when it is, in fact, among the few opportunities that transgenders have to earn a living. They are also pointing out that the stipulation that transgender people cannot be separated from their families is worrying as family members are often the main perpetrators of violence. Importantly, it is silent on the question of police violence. Thus, the legislation appears to leave transgenders even more vulnerable to violence.

India has around six lakh transgenders. Although ancient and medieval Indian society and culture included them, this is not the case in contemporary India. Transgenders suffer social ostracism and immense discrimination that often involves violence and it is only in recent years that awareness of transgenders and their rights has grown thanks to social activism and a string of progressive Supreme Court verdicts. In 2014, for instance, the Supreme Court accorded ‘third gender’ status on transpeople. It is evident that the new law will harm rather than help the transgender community. Legislation to enshrine transgender rights should build on the gains made over the years. The present bill does not. Indeed, the 2016 bill is a diluted version of the 2015 draft. It undermines progress made in recent years. This is disappointing.