The resistance to the transgender law has, so far, been united. Sprung without notice or consultation with the community and passed in unseemly haste even after it became clear that those it was supposed to ‘protect’ were fiercely opposed to it, the amendment had brought together disparate factions across caste, religion and geography. On the streets, in maidans, at demonstrations and jan suwais (people’s hearings) there was anger, anxiety and determination to fight it, even after the bill was passed in both houses of Parliament and it became law.

The path ahead was clear. On the day the bill to amend the law was introduced in Parliament on March 13, I spoke to an activist lawyer. Would the bill be challenged in court? Without a doubt, they replied, but only if it was passed. There had to be cause to file a petition, otherwise it risked being thrown out.

The community has the advantage of the knowledge of a previous battle. It took 17 years from the time Naz Foundation filed a petition in 2001 in the Delhi high court to decriminalise section 377—sex against the order of nature, a British colonial remnant—to the final reversal granted by a five-judge Supreme Court bench in 2018. In those 17 years, there was struggle and frustration, set-backs and triumphs, but also lessons in staying the course.

“The courts and of course the government are sensitive to the divisions that exist within the community which is why it is important to present a united front,” said senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal who was also one of the lawyers in the 377 fight in the Supreme Court. “This may be a long-haul fight that requires stamina.”

On Friday, two transgender women struck........

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