On Monday, Supreme Court expressed concern about people pretending to be transgender to gain welfare benefits and reservations in government jobs. This was during a hearing on several petitions challenging a law that eliminates the right to self-identification.
Supreme Court plan for reservation benefits to Transgender
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, requires a favorable recommendation from a government-appointed medical board before a District Magistrate can certify someone as a transgender person.
The petitioners, including activists like Laxminarayan Tripathi and others, argued that the Act fails to recognize transgender identity as an “authentic human identity, freely chosen.” They claimed that the need for medical certification to recognize gender violates the rights of transgender individuals and acts as “medical gatekeeping” by the government.
Will Provide Welfare Benefits
Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, representing the petitioners, noted that there is no reservation for transgender individuals. He added that the risk of people pretending to transgender to get benefits in the future is very low, about 0.001%.
“But today, this Act takes away my right to dignity and bodily autonomy, which is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,” Mr. Singhvi said. He disagreed with the Bench’s use of the word “abnormalities” when discussing a person’s internal sense of gender differing from the sex assigned at birth.
He emphasized that parents, society, and the government cannot impose an identity on a person. “Parents or society cannot tell a person with predominantly female leanings that they cannot undergo a sex-change,” Mr. Singhvi said.
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