NEW DELHI: A bill seeking to give a precise definition to the term ‘transgender’ and provide tiered penalties that reflect the seriousness of harm caused to such persons was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
It also emphasizes that a transgender person “may not, and will never, include people with different sexual orientations and self-perceived gender identities.”
The Transgender Persons Amendment Bill was introduced by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar.
She points out that it is necessary to give a precise definition to correctly and definitively identify and protect transgender people, to whom the benefits of the current law should reach.
The protection and benefits afforded under the current Act 2019 are broad in nature and, therefore, care must be taken that “this definition cannot be expanded based on any obtainable characteristics, personal choice or purported self-identity of the individual”.
The draft law also includes provisions for an “appointed authority” who will have the option to seek “expert advice” if necessary.
A new provision defines ‘authority’ as a medical council headed by the Chief Medical Officer or Deputy Chief Medical Officer appointed by the Central Government, State Government or Union Territory Administration.
The draft law noted that over time, during the implementation of the Transgender Protection Act, “certain uncertainties and difficulties have arisen and are likely to arise” regarding “widening the definition” of transgender persons.
Inserts a new sub-clause to define a transgender person as a person who has socio-cultural identities such as ‘relative’, ‘hijra’, ‘aravani’, ‘jogta’ or eunuch, or a person with gender differences or a person who, at birth, has a congenital difference in one or more sex characteristics as compared to male or female development, will be defined as transgender.
Also, any person or child who has been forced, by force, inducement, deception or undue influence, whether with or without consent, to assume, adopt or ostensibly present a transgender identity, by mutilation, castration, castration or
Amputation or any surgical, chemical, hormonal, or other procedure will be included in the definition.
“Provided that it does not, and will never include, persons with different sexual orientations and gender identities,” he stressed.
She said the current law prohibits discrimination and abuse against transgender people, but its penal provisions only address public wrongs and criminal offenses and provide for a maximum of two years in prison.
It does not adequately address crimes
“Exceptional risk” that has been documented in practice.
Abduction of adults and children, infliction of reversible or irreversible physical harm through mutilation, castration, emasculation, hormonal or other similar treatments or chemical alteration, and forced assumption of transgender identity are all covered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act, 2023 and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
But there is no text that treats this combination of kidnapping, permanent bodily harm and forced identity as a unified penal approach.
The draft law proposes to create specific crimes with graduated penalties that reflect the seriousness of the harm, the irreversibility of the harm, and the particular vulnerability of child victims.
The bill also seeks to enable transgender people to make subsequent changes to official documents.
A person who has obtained an identity certificate and has been declared a transgender person has the right to change the first name on the birth certificate and all other official documents related to his or her identity.
