'Our rights taken away': Activists oppose transgender bill over exclusions

Over 100 students, allies, lawyers, educators and affected members of the community gathered at Jantar Mantar and asked that the bill be withdrawn

Members of the transgender community, including welfare board officials from different state have congregated in the Capital city in a show of strength to protest against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment bill 2026 that was cleared by the Parliament earlier this week.

The bill was introduced in the ongoing budget session of the Parliament, which ends on April 2, in an effort by the Centre to curb the misuse of funds granted by schemes meant for the most marginalised transgender people. (REUTERS/representational image)

Leading transgender rights activists including Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Aryan Pasha, Simran Sheikh, and Dr Sanvi Jethwani of the Maharashtra State Board for Protection of Transgender Rights and Welfare, held a press conference at the Constitution Club of India.

"Our rights have been taken away, and we have been made into criminals. If I am raped, the perpetrator will get two years in jail. If someone undergoes [gender correction] surgery and then decides to accuse me [of alluring them], I will get 15 years of imprisonment. How is this justice? Even if the President signs the bill, we will approach the courts,” Tripathi said.

"The government has spent only a fraction of its small budget allocated for transgender welfare on the shelter homes (Garima Grehas). Instead of providing reservation, they expect us to obtain benefits based on our caste. If our families refuse to give us basic respect, will they give us our caste certificates?" Jethwani said.

Over 100 students, allies, lawyers, educators and affected members of the community gathered at Jantar Mantar and asked that the bill be withdrawn as it takes away the fundamental right to self-identify gender, purportedly criminalizes transgender support networks, and introduces a medical authority that would advice a district magistrate on issuing transgender identity cards.

“I am at a position in my life where I can openly express myself [as a transwoman] and earn a living too, and that is only because of the transgender community that helped me after my natal family abandoned me. This law can be used to criminalize people who offer support, so what will happen to other young transgender persons in the situation I was in?” said Mona, 37, who participated in the Jantar Mantar protest.

“This is fear-mongering, and people really need to look at the data. What schemes are even available to us? And when a transgender person comes out, they lose friends, family, many opportunities, and access to healthcare,” said lawyer and transwoman Raghavi Shukla.

The Joint Action Committee on Transgender and LGBTQIA+ Rights, Kerala, a non-profit consortium, held a press conference with activists and officials from the state and district welfare boards at the Press Club of India.

“The amendment bill sets India back a hundred years, at a time when other countries are concentrating on moving forward,” said Shyama, project officer, Transgender Cell, Social Justice Department, and member of the Kerala State Transgender Welfare Board.

Sherin Antony, a member of the Ernakulam District Transgender Welfare Committee said, “There are people who do not want to undergo surgery, those with health complications who cannot, and those who cannot afford to.”

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 enshrined self-determination of gender and offered procedures to obtain documentation aligned with this fundamental right. Under current rules, a person can obtain both a transgender identity card and a binary gender card based on their self-determined gender identity. To obtain the former, a mental health professional must provide certification of gender incongruence.For the latter, the person would need to provide evidence of any kind of medical intervention, not necessarily surgical.

However, the amendment bill states that a district magistrate will issue transgender identity certificates in consultation with a newly mandated medical board, which will receive documentation from hospital authorities.

This has sparked privacy concerns and narrowed the scope of who qualifies as a transgender person, as not all medical procedures are similar or easily accessible.