Plea filed before Supreme Court challenging Transgender Amendment Act

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the Constitutional validity of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026 which introduced sweeping changes to the legal framework governing the recognition, rights and protection of transgender persons.

The petition has been filed by chairperson of National Council for Transgender Persons, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and member Zainab Patel.

The law had received presidential assent on March 31.

The controversial law amends the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. It redefines who qualifies as a “transgender person,” while also strengthening penal provisions to address serious offences such as forced identity and bodily harm.

The new legislation has been met with criticism from opposition parties and LGBTQIA+ groups. Stakeholders have argued that they were not consulted at all prior to the introduction of the Bill in parliament. Two members of the National Council of Transgender Persons (NCTP), Kalki Subramanium and Rituparna Neog, resigned from their posts the day the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill.

A committee set up by the Supreme Court to examine transgender rights also asked the Union government to withdraw the Bill. The committee, headed by retired Delhi High Court judge Justice Asha Menon, wrote to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, highlighting concerns about several provisions in the amendment and requesting a reconsideration of the law.

The criticism of the Act mainly relates to the removal of self-identification and the requirement of medical certification, which conflict with the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment of 2014.

The Rajasthan High Court, too, had expressed concerns that the amendment risks turning “an inviolable aspect of personhood” into a State-mediated entitlement for transgender persons. However, the High Court later deleted its remarks about the law.

Read more about the law here.

[Read full text of law]