Rajya Sabha passes Bill to protect rights of transgenders

The Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday, passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 after a motion to refer it to a Select Committee of the Upper House was defeated. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on August 5 this year.

READ: Rajya Sabha Refers Surrogacy Bill To Select Committee Amid Multiple Objections

Bill passed in the winter session

The Bill had faced serious protests from the opposition who said that it was not 'comprehensive enough' and recommended it to be sent back to a panel for further scrutiny. Previously, the opposition parties, DMK, NCP, CPI and Aam Admi Party (AAP) alleged that the government has brought its own version tweaking major provisions suggested in bill. Sanjay Singh of the AAP said, "2 percent reservation for transgenders and setting up of a commission were there in the private member bill but they have not been incorporated in the existing one. Therefore the bill should be referred to a select committee for further scrutiny."

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The Bill defines a transgender person as one whose gender does not match the gender assigned at birth.  It includes trans-men and trans-women, persons with intersex variations, gender-queers, and persons with socio-cultural identities, such as kinnar and hijra.  Intersex variations is defined to mean a person who at birth shows variation in his or her primary sexual characteristics, external genitalia, chromosomes, or hormones from the normative standard of male or female body.

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Recently, the Bill has been opposed in the public, with many activists saying that it has serious issues with the definition to identify who exactly is a trans person. The meaning and implication of 'self-perceived gender identity' is unclear as well. The Bill removes the Standing Committee's recommendation of a Screening Committee. The  Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016, stated that a person can be issued a certificate of a 'transgender' by the  Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill on the basis of the committee, which comprised of Chief Medical Officer,  District Social Welfare Officer,  District Social Welfare Officer, psychologist or psychiatrist, representative of the transgender community,  government officer. The Amendments in the 2019 Bill completely removes the provision. Now, the District Magistrate (DM), only has the power to issue the Certificate. 

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