PIL in Supreme Court seeks equal protection against sexual offences for transgender community

A petition in the Supreme Court seeks equal protection from sexual crimes for the transgender community under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It highlights that there is no provision in the IPC that protects transgenders from sexual assault by any male, female or another transgender..The plea moved by Advocate Reepak Kansal states that clauses (i), (ii) and (iv) of sub-section (1) of Section 354A of IPC exclude victims of sexual harassment who are transgender persons, which is violative of Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution of India..Kansal urges the Court to direct appropriate modification/interpretation of sections of the IPC dealing with sexual assault to include transsexuals and eunuchs in their definitions.The plea avers that the "State cannot discriminate transgenders on the ground of gender, violating Articles 14 to 16 and 21 of the Constitution of India."."In-spite of declaring transgender people to be a "Third Gender" by this Hon'ble Court, there is no provision/section in the Indian penal code which may protect the third gender from the sexual assault by male/female or another transgender."Plea filed in Supreme Court.The petitioner further avers that statistics reveal that there are shockingly high levels of sexual abuse and assault where one in two transgender individuals are sexually abused or assaulted at some point in their lives. It is stated."Sexual assaults can be perpetrated by any individual; however, it is particularly startling when professionals who are in "helping" roles abuse their power and sexually assault individuals they are supposed to be serving. Fifteen percent of transgender individuals report being sexually assaulted while in police custody or jail. The main reason is that there is no security of transgender and they put in jail with male convicted. There are no separate jails or wards or security to transgender.".It is also contended that even though the Delhi Police submitted before the Delhi High Court that all cases concerning sexual harassment against transgenders will now be registered under Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code which deals with "assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty", the same statement has no binding effect due to lack of proper enactment in law.The petition states that the greatest and most inclusive constitutional provision is Article 21, which states that no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.The plea, therefore, seeks appropriate modification/interpretation of Sections/provisions of IPC dealing with sexual assault to include transgender/transsexuals/Kinnar and eunuchs in the definitions under IPC. It further seeks a direction to the government to make gender-neutral laws dealing with sexual harassment mechanisms.Kansal also prays that an anti-discrimination bill that penalizes discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender is passed by the legislature.