Government introduces bill proposing a more precise definition of transgender people, abandoning “self-perceived gender identity”

NEW DELHI: In a major departure from the existing law, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026 introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday proposed to omit a provision allowing “self-perceived gender identity” as the basis for self-determination and identification by the district magistrate for approval of transgender certificate.“The existing vague definition of the term ‘transgender’ not only makes it impossible to identify the truly oppressed people whom the bill is intended to benefit,” Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar explained in the bill’s statement of purpose and rationale.It emphasizes that transgender people “shall not include and shall not include persons with different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities.”“The protections and benefits provided by the Act are substantial in nature and it is therefore important to note that such identity cannot be extended on the basis of any available characteristics or personal self-perception of identity as chosen or claimed by the individual,” it added.The government has justified the proposed changes. The bill’s purpose statement says: “The purpose of the bill is to protect a specific group of people socially and culturally known as transgender people who face extreme and oppressive social discrimination.” It adds: “Its purpose was not, and is not, to protect every class of people with different gender identities, self-perceived genders, gender identity or gender fluidity.”The bill also proposes to create specific offenses with graduated penalties to reflect the seriousness of the harm, the irreversibility of the harm and the particular vulnerabilities of child victims.The bill introduces a medical board headed by the chief medical officer and if passed in its current form, the district magistrate will issue transgender status certificate after reviewing the recommendations of the medical board, known as the “authority” set up by the central or state government.As of now, a person applies for a transgender certificate on the ministry’s portal and the application of the transgender person providing an affidavit of self-identification is then entertained by the district magistrate to verify the document and approve the certification. According to the latest data from the National Transgender Portal, only about 32,448 certificates have been issued since the 2019 law was enacted and implemented in September 2020.The bill defines a transgender person as “a person with a socio-cultural identity such as ‘kinner’, ‘hijra’, ‘aravani’ and ‘jogta’, or a eunuch, or a person with an intersex variation, or a person who is born with a congenital variation in one or more sex characteristics compared to male or female development: primary sex characteristics; external genitalia, chromosomal pattern, gonadal development, production or response to endogenous hormones.”““In addition, any person or child, with or without consent, who is compelled by force, inducement, inducement, deception or undue influence to assume, adopt or appear to manifest a transgender identity by mutilation, castration, castration, amputation or any surgical, chemical or hormonal procedure or other means will be included in this definition.Current law also prohibits discrimination and abuse of transgender people, but its penal code provisions deal only with general wrongdoings and criminal offenses and provide for up to two years in prison, the bill said. The proposed amendments leave room for tougher penalties and penalties.For example, prison sentences ranging from six months to two years are provided for crimes such as forcing transgender people to engage in forced or bonded labour, denying transgender people the right to enter public places, and forcing transgender people to leave their homes or villages. Similar penalties are provided for cases involving physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and financial abuse of transgender people.If a transgender person is abducted and subjected to mutilation, castration or any surgical, chemical or hormonal procedure; or permanent or serious injury with the intent to force the person to adopt or publicly assume a transgender identity against his or her will, the offense shall be punishable by imprisonment from 10 years to life. In addition, a fine of not less than 2 lakh rupees will also be imposed. The same offense involving children attracts life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.Anyone who compels, by force or threat, any person, whether transgender or not, to dress, act, or behave as a transgender person against his or her will, and to engage in begging or forced labor, is liable to imprisonment for 5 to 10 years. In the case of children, the penalty range is 10 to 14 years.