“Is a Trans person’s body, dignity any less?”: Swati Maliwal on Transgender Persons amendment bill; flags ‘glaring inequalities’ in law
New Delhi [India], March 25 (ANI): Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Swati Maliwal on Wednesday addressed the Rajya Sabha and pointed out "glaring legal inequalities" in the recently passed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, pointing out that the sexual abuse of a transgender person attracts a maximum punishment of only 2 years, while the same crime against a cisgender woman carries a minimum sentence of 10 years.
"Is a trans woman's body and dignity worth any less? For a cisgender woman, sexual abuse carries a minimum of 10 years. For a transgender person, just 2 years. This inequality must be urgently corrected," she said.
Addressing the House, Maliwal pointed out that six years after the Transgender Persons Act, 2019, implementation on the ground remains deeply inadequate. Transgender Welfare Boards are absent in 11 States and Union Territories. The National Council for Transgenders has met only a handful of times. Across the entire country, there are only 23 Garima Grehs -- shelters for abandoned transgender persons spread across 17 States. Sex reassignment surgeries, mandated under the 2019 Act, remain unavailable in most government hospitals.
According to na official statement, Maliwal cited the case of Jane Kaushik, a qualified transgender teacher who secured employment in two states but was forced to resign not for lack of merit, but because of her identity. She also spoke of Pranshu, a 16-year-old trans artist from Ujjain who died by suicide in 2023 following relentless online hate.
"These are not isolated stories. Even today, discrimination and abuse remain the lived reality of thousands and millions of transgender persons in India for centuries," she added.
Turning to the Amendment Bill itself, Maliwal argued it moves in the wrong direction. The Bill narrows the definition of transgender persons, excludes identities based on self-perception, and mandates medical certification, directly contradicting the spirit of the Supreme Court's historic NALSA judgment of 2014, which affirmed that gender identity is a fundamental right requiring no surgery, no certificate, and no State approval.
"It replaces dignity with diagnosis, identity with inspection. No other citizen in this country is required to prove who they are in this manner," she said.
Drawing from her eight years as Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, Maliwal described how the certification process has become a tool of humiliation in practice. Though the law mandates certificates within 30 days, delays in Delhi have routinely stretched to months.
Transgender persons have been asked degrading questions by officials, "aap meethe ho?" and told, "dekhne se toh nahin lagte trans ho." The Amendment Bill adds yet another layer of medical verification on top of this existing system of harassment.
Maliwal also raised alarm over a provision in the Bill that criminalises "alluring someone to present as a transgender", calling it dangerously vague. Such language, she warned, risks targeting the families, doctors, and support systems of transgender persons. "Instead of protection, it will create fear," she said.
Maliwal called upon the House to refer the Bill to a Select Committee and hold wider consultations with the transgender community. " Today, we must stand with those pushed to the margins for centuries. Let us listen to the community we claim to protect. Dignity delayed is dignity denied."
The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha today, a day after being passed in the Lok Sabha by a voice vote. (ANI)
