Transgender persons Amendment Bill opposed by community collectives

A coalition of transgender, intersex, and gender-diverse organisations gathered at Azad Maidan on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) to oppose the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026. The protesters demanded that the Bill be referred to a parliamentary standing committee, asserting that the proposed changes remove existing legal protections and introduce provisions that may affect community support networks.

“Individuals from various backgrounds and organisations had gathered for protests, online and offline, and were collecting signatures to present to members of parliament,” Shals Mahajan, a writer and activist, told.

Deniella Mendonca, a protester, said the protest was collectively organized. She added that if the bill did not recognize her as a trans person, it would effectively render her vote, income tax, and religion illegal, and she called for inclusion as citizens of India. “If being trans is illegal in India, then my vote is illegal, my income tax is illegal, and the religion I belong to is illegal,” she stated.

Yadnya Ankita, 26, an organiser from Mumbai Action, said the Bill narrowed the definition of transgender people. “The requirement to prove identity through biological tests was a breach of privacy and removed the right to self-identification. Further stating it upright strikes the fundamental rights of transgender people,” she said. She noted that the Bill included only certain social-cultural identities, such as Hijra, Kinnar, Aravani, and Jogtha, while excluding cultural identities like other cultural identities like Nupi Mambi and Nupa Manba from the northeast along with transgemded woman, transgender man and non binary folls who aren’t associated with the socio-cultural identities they have mentioned in the amendment. She added that the Bill criminalised those who affirms the excluded transgender sub-communities, including doctors, and would impact education, livelihoods, and professions.

Harshada, from Disha Students Organisation, said the protest reflected public concern over what some see as a concentration of power, with worries about the erosion of fundamental rights and democratic freedoms. “The bill is part of a broader push to advance a majoritarian vision, using state mechanisms that risk marginalizing vulnerable communities. By limiting self-identification and imposing bureaucratic and medical scrutiny, the state is perceived to be overstepping into personal autonomy. For many, these measures raise serious questions about the future of civil liberties,” she said.

The demonstration at Azad Maidan was part of a series of protests held in multiple cities, including tier-2 cities, since the Bill was announced. A statement from the collective urged the government to hold a debate in the Rajya Sabha and to base future legislation on recommendations related to employment, education, and protection from violence.

The Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha through a voice vote and now pending consideration in the Rajya Sabha, removes the provision for self-identification of gender, a principle recognised by the Supreme Court in the 2014 NALSA judgment and the 2014 Puttaswamy privacy ruling. It replaces the current process of legal recognition with a system that requires individuals to appear before a government medical board. The definition of “transgender person” has been narrowed to include specific biological criteria and select socio-cultural groups, including Hijras, Kinnars, Aravanis, and Jogtis.

During the debate in the Lok Sabha, members who opposed the legislation requested that it be referred to a select or standing committee for wider consultation. The government stated that the amendments were required because the current definition of “transgender” was open to misuse. The collective has contested this, noting that no data was presented to support the claim.