Public Toilets For Transgender Persons Should Not Be Restricted Based On Population Density: Allahabad High Court Observes Orally

A bench comprising Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava was hearing a PIL filed by students of various law colleges. They claimed to have convened a fact-finding committee to ascertain the difficulties faced by non-binary persons living in Allahabad.

Petitioners said they visited public places like the Nagar Nigam Office, bus stand, and railway station to find that no washrooms were available for transgender persons. The fact-finding committee reported that in Uttar Pradesh, Agra district has a maximum number of transgenders. Moving from west to east in the State, the said number reduces.

In this backdrop the bench orally remarked that the respondent-State authorities have not constructed enough washrooms for the binary population, let alone the non-binary population.

To this, the Counsel representing Nagar Nigam stated that at least five public washrooms for transgender persons have been built across the city since the filing of this PIL. It was also submitted that further areas have already been earmarked and needful would be done very soon.

In this regard, the Court stressed that the population density of transgender persons is not to be considered while constructing toilets for them. Toilets should be constructed in all public places alongside toilets for binary persons, it said.

Petitioners placed heavy reliance on the judgment in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India and Others where the Apex Court held that Centre and State Governments should take proper measures to provide separate public toilets to Transgender persons. Access to proper sanitation is a fundament right which is being denied to the transgender community, Petitioners argued.

It was emphasized that despite the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, transgender persons continue to face discrimination in different walks of life, from access to public places to denial of apartment spaces. Their problems are aggravated due to lack of gender neutral/ separate toilets in public places, petitioners submitted.

Since the respondents sought a 5-week time to file a counter in the matter, the Court listed the matter for further hearing on September 5. Court has also directed the State to provide remuneration and travel expenses to the petitioners (students) for the next hearing.

Case Title: Vishal Dwivedi And 6 Others v. State Of U.P. And 2 Others [PIL No. 1412/2023]

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