A new bill that could roll back the hard-fought rights of India’s large transgender community is being seen as a devastating setback.
On 26 March, the country’s Parliament passed the controversial 2026 Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, despite fierce opposition from medical, LGBT, and human rights experts.
While the government says the bill aims to strengthen the legal framework protecting transgender people, critics argue that it removes existing rights and medicalises gender identity.
New Rules Would Restrict Legal Recognition of Transgender People
Crucially, the bill undermines the principle of self-identification and severely restricts the legal recognition of transgender people to intersex individuals or those who belong to traditional socio-cultural trans communities such as Kinnars, Jogtis, and Hijras.
If it becomes law, changing one’s legal gender will also require medical verification.
This approach conflicts with a landmark 2014 Supreme Court ruling that found that “It is the right of every human being to choose their gender,” and that the matter “is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue.”
The change would primarily affect those who do not belong to the recognised traditional communities.
Critics Warn of Harsh Criminal Penalties and Lack of Consultation
Alarmingly, the bill also introduces several offences, including penalties of up to life imprisonment for “coercing or alluring” people to be transgender.
The government has further been accused of failing to consult affected communities and of rushing the legislation through Parliament.
In India’s most recent census in 2011, 487,803 people were recorded as transgender. although some estimate the number to be two million or more. However, only around 32,500 currently hold nationally recognised identity cards identifying them as transgender, which are required to access state support services.
Rights Groups Say the Bill Is “Unconstitutional and Regressive”
India’s People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said that the bill is “unconstitutional and regressive” and “constitutes a blatant betrayal by the Indian government of transgender citizens, which will only put them to further risk, social and legal exclusion and denial of their basic human rights.”
PUCL argues that the legislation will not allow for the legal recognition or protection of trans men, trans women who fall outside the defined groups, or genderqueer and non-binary people.
“Moreover, it infringes upon the right to privacy, choice and autonomy of transgender persons, foregrounding a stereotypical understanding of transgender identity as based on coercion, inducement, fraud and violence, and not on personal choice,” said the group.
Activists Vow to Challenge the Law
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that if the bill becomes law, it will mark a significant reversal of the hard-won rights of transgender people in India.
“India’s president should not sign the adopted bill into law,” asserted Jayshree Bajoria, HRW Associate Director, Asia Division.
“Instead of adopting a regressive law, the government should have broad consultations with transgender communities and work toward expanding and enforcing their rights.”
Meanwhile, trans rights activists have vowed to fight the legislation through whatever means possible.
UPDATE: On the eve of the International Transgender Day of Visibility (31 March, 2026), the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, signed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill into law.
