| The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 | |
|---|---|
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| Parliament of India | |
| |
| Citation | Act No. 40 of 2019 [1] |
| Territorial extent | Republic of India |
| Passed by | Parliament of India |
| Passed | 5 August 2019 |
| Passed | 26 November 2019 |
| Assented to | 5 December 2019 |
| Signed | 5 December 2019 |
| Commenced | 10 January 2020 [2] |
| Legislative history | |
| Bill title | The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 |
| Bill citation | Bill No. 169 of 2019 [3] |
| Introduced by | Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment |
| Introduced | 19 July 2019 |
| First reading | 5 August 2019 |
| Committee report | 43rd Report by Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, July 2017 |
| Related legislation | |
| The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018 The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 | |
| Status: In force | |
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 is an act of the Parliament of India with the objective to provide for protection of rights of transgender people, their welfare, and other related matters.[1] The act was introduced in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, on 19 July 2019 by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Thawar Chand Gehlot, in light of the lapse of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018 (Bill No. 210-C of 2016). The 2019 act and the immediately preceding 2018 bill, were both preceded by a 2016 version. They were met with protests and criticism by some transgender people, lawyers, and activists in India. The 2016 bill was sent to a standing committee which submitted its report in July 2017. Following this, the Lok Sabha tabled and passed a newer version of the bill in December 2018. However, it did not incorporate many of the committee's recommendations. Although members of the opposition criticised the 2019 act and assured activists that they would not vote in favour of it, it was passed by the Lok Sabha on 5 August 2019 and by the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament, on 26 November 2019. The president assented to it on 5 December 2019, upon which the act was published in the Gazette of India. It has been in effect since 10 January 2020 following a notification of the same in the Gazette on the same day.
Following protests by the queer community against the 2016 and 2018 bills, the 2019 act has done away with few of the severely criticised provisions of the 2018 bill, such as the criminalisation of begging and the establishment of a district screening committee to process applications for issuance of transgender person certificates. However, it fails to incorporate yet other principles in line with the Supreme Court judgment in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (NALSA v. UOI) in 2014, such as the right of transgender people to declare their self-perceived gender identity without undergoing sex reassignment surgery, and reservations in jobs and educational institutions. The act has also been criticised for imposing less punishment for crimes against transgender people compared with punishment for crimes against cisgender people. On 27 January 2020, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the central government in a petition challenging the constitutionality of the act.
In January 2014, while judicial pronouncement in the NALSA petition was pending, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment published an Expert Committee Report on issues relating to transgender people, after consultations with transgender people. Tiruchi Siva, of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, had introduced the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill in 2014, in the Rajya Sabha, which was passed by the house in 2015. It stayed pending in the Lok Sabha, during which the 2016 bill was tabled, and lapsed following the dissolution of the house prior to the 2019 general elections. Parties such as the Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) had promised in their respective electoral manifestoes for the 2019 elections to, respectively, withdraw the 2018 bill — while introducing a new one consulting members of the queer community — and pass one based on the 2014 bill.
- ^ Vakoch, Douglas A., ed. (2022). Transgender India: Understanding Third Gender Identities and Experiences. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-96386-6. ISBN 978-3-030-96385-9. S2CID 213383859.
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