The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, which came into force on March 30, has triggered widespread outrage, with activists calling it ‘draconian and dehumanising’ — a direct assault on the right to self-identify upheld by the Supreme Court in its landmark 2014 NALSA judgment.
At its core, the law replaces the right to determine one’s gender with a state-controlled verification process requiring certification by a medical board and approval from a district magistrate.
It also introduces sweeping criminal provisions, penalising anyone who “compels”, “forces” or “allures” a person or child to present as transgender, with punishments extending up to life imprisonment.
“It is really regressive that my transgender brothers and sisters need a medical certificate to prove their gender. There are more pressing issues in the country at the moment than discussing what is beneath our pants,” fashion designer Indroneel Mukherjee told My Kolkata, warning against the far-reaching consequences of the act — shelter homes could be targeted. Allies could face arrest. Even offering refuge to a transgender person fleeing abuse could be construed as a criminal act.
“What kind of protection is this? We don’t want this protection. For one Transgender certificate I now must strip myself of dignity and go through this cumbersome process of going to the medical board and then the district magistrate. We are slipping backwards in time,” argued activist Shaan Chowdhury.
Physician Bhaskar Das, also known as drag artist Dr. Queer, noted that the Act “pathologises” identity.
“Research on modern medicine clearly mentions that gender incongruence is when there is a marked incongruity between one’s experienced/lived gender and assigned sex at birth. The criteria never dictates that any kind of medical tests or confirmation has to be done by any third party to certify one’s gender. Medical transitioning is not a prerequisite for establishing one’s gender, because gender is a self-experienced situation,” he explained.
Bhaskar Das Instagram/@the_dr_queer_
For drag artist Sushant Divgikr, the amendment raises a fundamental question — in a democracy, who gets to decide your identity and if any person has to fight for his or her rights, is it a democracy?
Criticising the provisions of the Act, Divgikr said, “Why should anyone have to ‘prove’ their gender to a panel? Would you ask a cis man or woman to strip and justify their identity?”
Sushant Divgikr Instagram/@sushantdivgikr
She emphasised that the “deeply exclusionary” act threatens to jeopardise an already marginalised community.
“These are distractions. In a country where marital rape, sexual violence, caste-based discrimination, poverty, unemployment are such pressing issues, what sadistic pleasure do people in power get by oppressing the already oppressed,” she questioned.
Challenging the premise of the Act, Digvikr continued, “I will strip down every piece of cloth on my body, but I want the lawmakers’ children to sit there and watch me. I want their full family to sit there and watch me and not blink. As soon as one of them turns their face, the lawmakers would have to resign.”
Protest organised by Bengal Transmen Collective in Kolkata Sourced by the correspondent
The law has also been slammed for erasure.
“How can you say that only the intersex or those associated with the kinner, hijra, aravani or jogta communities are transgenders. What about people who do not have enough money to undergo transition surgery? They too suffer from a dichotomy,” said dancer and teacher Kathakali Koushiki.
Kaunish Dey Sarkar, founder of Bengal Transmen Collective, highlighted how the Act excludes transmen. “We cannot associate ourselves even with the hijra community. So, now our identity is completely obliterated,” he argued, adding that the law dismantles support systems.
“In rural areas, there will be a lot of impact because people do not know a lot of things and many there lack the confidence to challenge authorities. Can you imagine the mental oppression? Suicide rates will increase and nobody will ever know why so many women across the country are taking their lives,” Dey Sarkar asserted.
At stake is more than a law; it is the fundamental right to live with dignity.