Transgender (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016: NGOs object to definition of transgender

Various NGOs working for the rights of transgender in the country today urged the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to review the Transgender (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016, before passing it.

According to NGO Sangma, the bill which was recently introduced in Parliament has not offered any clear direction on how different departments would co-ordinate to implement its provisions and how the community will access those welfare measures.

“If we do not remove the numerous lacunae, loopholes, drawbacks and disadvantages it could lead to miscarriage of justice rather than setting right the decades and centuries of social injustice and discrimination,” said Rajesh Umadevi, Program Director of Sangama.

The experts in the sector also objected to the definition of transgender in the bill.

“A transgender person has been defined as someone who is neither wholly female nor wholly male, a combination of female or male or neither female nor male. This is inappropriate and derogatory,” Nish Gulur, a trans-woman working in the sector said.

She went on to state that the Bill in its present form does not recognize the self identification process and makes a provision for a District Screening Committee led by a District Magistrate to certify a person’s third gender identity.

“With the team comprising of a psychiatrist, a medical officer, other government officials and another transgender person, this is tantamount to the violation of Supreme Court judgement and Constitutional right,” Gulur said.

Similar reservations were also voiced by Christy Raj, trans man and Media and Advocacy Associate, who said, “the new bill is silent on the violence committed by police and family members and does not define the word abuse”.

Saampurna Behura, Head Socio-legal initiative, ReachLaw lamented that all the effort made in the framing of 2015 Bill to address vital concerns such as violence against transgender persons occurs within the family and even by the state itself have not been incorporated in the present Bill.

The Bill, which is a redrafted version of the “Rights of Transgender Persons Bill 2015”, following the direction of the landmark 2014 National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgement by the Supreme Court of India, wherein the honourable court directed the government to draft polices to redress the inequities and rights violations faced by India’s transgender communities.