On March 13, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment introduced the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha. Among its various provisions, one stands out for its far-reaching consequences: A new, “precise” definition of who qualifies as a transgender person. In the name of clarity, the Bill proposes to significantly narrow the scope of recognition, effectively excluding a large section of the very community the law seeks to protect.

The new definition limits transgender identity to three categories: Intersex persons, individuals belonging to certain socio-cultural communities such as hijra, kinnar, aravani or jogta, and those who are said to have been forced into presenting a transgender identity. Conspicuously absent are transgender men, transgender women outside socio-cultural identities, and non-binary or genderqueer individuals, who are included in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. This is not a minor technical revision. It is a fundamental shift that undermines the core of what it means to be a transgender person in law. Under this formulation, tens of thousands of individuals who currently identify, and are legally recognised, as transgender may suddenly find themselves excluded. Their identities would not merely be ignored; they would be erased. This narrowing of definition runs directly in contravention of the Supreme Court’s ruling in NALSA vs Union of India (2014), which clearly held that gender identity is a matter of self-determination. It is also inconsistent with contemporary medical understanding.

Global health authorities, including the World Health Organisation, distinguish clearly between biological sex and gender identity. Gender cannot be reduced to anatomy or verified........

© Indian Express