Activists criticise transgender rights bill

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, which was cleared by the Union cabinet last week, has run into criticism from activists, who say that problems with the previous versions of the legislation may not have been fixed. The bill is likely to be introduced in the Parliament during the ongoing budget session.

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Activists stated at a press conference on Tuesday in New Delhi that a clause in the bill that criminalises enticement to beg is likely to be misused against other transgender persons, many of whom are arrested under begging prohibition laws in different states.

The transgender community also spoke out against the provision of a district screening committee — which comprises a district magistrate, chief medical officers, psychiatrists or psychologists— that will issue transgender identity cards. If the trans person is identified as either man or woman, they would need to prove that they have undergone gender realignment surgery before seeking an identity card in either gender, according to the last version of the bill.

“There should be no physical or bodily screening simply to avail an identity card. However, there could be a basic assessment before disbursing welfare schemes. This can be done by transgender welfare boards,” said Amrita Sarkar, a New Delhi-based activist.

Some media reports have indicated that the aforementioned two clauses may be dropped in the new bill but no confirmation was forthcoming from the Union social justice ministry.

Karthik Bittu Kondaiah, an associate professor at Ashoka University, stated that the focus should shift from monitoring those who are accessing welfare schemes to whether the disbursal is effective.

The bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2016, and sent to a parliamentary standing committee after uproar. In December 2018, the government introduced an amended version of the bill, which trans-rights activists said, ignored a majority of the changes suggested by the committee and the community.