Queer collectives, gender sensitisation groups, student unions, Opposition parties and even members of government panels have spoken out against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, which the critics claim excludes several “vulnerable” sections from its scope.
Southern region representative of the Centre’s National Council for Transgender Persons (NCTP), Kalki Subramaniam, has threatened to quit if the bill is not reconsidered.
In a letter to Union social justice and empowerment minister Virendra Kumar, Subramaniam explained: “It excludes trans men, intersex persons, gender queer and non-binary individuals from the scope of protection, leaving many vulnerable people outside the law. This is a direct violation of constitutional guarantees and the Supreme Court’s NALSA judgment.”
She added: “The National Council for Transgender Persons, of which I am a member, was not informed or consulted about this amendment… if this amendment becomes law in its current form, I will resign from my position as a member of the National Council for Transgender Persons. I cannot continue to serve in a body that is sidelined in such critical decisions and that endorses legislation which harms the very community it is meant to protect.”
Other current and former members of the NCTP have also expressed surprise and opposition to the bill introduced in the Lok Sabha last week. Protests against the
bill have taken place in several cities, including the capital, on Monday.
CPM’s student wing, SFI, which organised the agitation here, said the existing law recognised the right of transgender people to identify their gender without mandatory medical procedures or certification.
“However, the new amendment replaces this with a system where the district magistrate can issue identity certificates only after recommendations from a medical board, effectively subjecting transgender persons to bureaucratic and medical scrutiny,” it said in a statement.
“It is also extremely concerning that this move mirrors the anti-trans acts that the imperialist warmonger Donald Trump has been pushing in the United States, oppressing the transgender community there,” it added.
Queer collectives, gender sensitisation groups, and student groups from 42 law colleges and universities said “the mischief behind this amendment is evident from the Statement of Objects and Reasons itself, Paragraph 3 of which states that the purpose of the act was not to protect ‘self perceived sex/gender identities’. This explicitly
goes against Section 4(2) of the Act, which the bill seeks to omit. This provision recognised the right to self-perceived gender identity….”
“It is a deep irony that a statute claiming to protect the rights of transgender persons, is now proposed to penalise ‘coercing or alluring’ people to be transgender with punishment harsher than those for protection of transgender persons,” they said in a statement.
They urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stand by the statements he had made during the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha, praising the welfare schemes undertaken under the prevailing framework governing transgender rights.
“Many of the transgender beneficiaries of welfare schemes and the Padma Shri awardees exalted by the Hon’ble Prime Minister would not be considered as transgender or be eligible for any benefits under the amended act and its definition,” the statement said.
Trinamool Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien termed the bill “draconian” in an X post on Thursday. “Expect no better from government which has a dubious record of MOCKING PARLIAMENT 20 years ago, 6 out of 10 bills would be sent to committees for scrutiny. Now, only 2 out of 10 bills scrutinised,”
he wrote.
The CPM had demanded the withdrawal of the bill soon after its introduction on March 13.
