A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court issued notices to the Telangana government for filing counter affidavit informing about the steps taken for the protection of transgender persons in the State after the Supreme Court’s verdict in NALSA vs Union of India case of the year 2014.
The bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice SV Bhatt was passing the order on Tuesday in the PIL filed by KMV Monalisa, Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli and Sayantan Datta seeking direction to the State government to frame a comprehensive policy for protecting the rights of the transgenders and for constituting a transgender welfare board with 50 per cent representation from the community. The petitioners’ counsel told the court that even after four years of the Apex Court verdict in NALSA case, no steps were taken by the government.
The Supreme Court had stated that Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as “third gender” for the purpose of safeguarding their Constitutional rights. The transgender persons’ right to decide their self-identified gender was also upheld and the Centre and State were directed to grant them legal recognition of their gender identity.
Further, it directed both the governments to take steps to extend all kinds of reservation in cases of admission in education and appointments. It also acknowledged that the non-recognition of the identity of transgender persons denies them equal protection of law, thereby leaving them extremely vulnerable to harassment, violence and sexual assault in public spaces, at home and in jail and also by the police. After hearing the case, the bench issued notices to the State to inform about the steps taken for protection and welfare of transgenders, and adjourned the case hearing by four weeks.