Parliament Standing Committee Bats For Transgender Rights [Read the Report]

The Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, on July 21, presented its 43rd report on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, to the Lok Sabha.  It was laid in Rajya Sabha on the same day.  Divided into nine chapters, the report includes minutes of the Committee’s sittings as well.  The report makes significant recommendations to improve the contents of the Bill, so as to promote the rights of the transgender persons, and contribute to their recognition by others in the society.

Highlights

The Committee, chaired by the BJP Member of Lok Sabha, Ramesh Bais, includes 17 Lok Sabha Members and 10 Rajya Sabha Members.

The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 2, 2016 and referred to the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment on September 8, 2016 for examination and report.

A large number of individuals and other  stakeholders submitted their written representations to the Committee, which held five sittings.  The report includes the minutes of the sittings.

Various NGOs and experts appeared before the committee to express their views and make submissions.   They include Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Amnesty International, Lawyers Collective, All India Hijra Transgender Samiti, and Dr.Kaveri Rajaraman, a neuroscientist.

The committee assured the members of the transgender community that “A historic shift is underway, you are not alone in your struggle for the end of violence and discrimination.  It is a shared struggle. Transgender is not an anomaly.  It is a part of the spectrum of people’s realities.  While there is no shame in being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex or even straight – there is most certainly shame and dishonor in being a homophobe, a transphobe and a bigot”.

The Committee notes that the Bill is silent on granting reservations to transgender persons under the category of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, although the Supreme Court has directed the Central and State Governments to take steps to treat them as such and extend all kinds of reservation for admission in educational institutions and for public appointments.

The report notes that the Bill does not refer to important civil rights like marriage, divorce, adoption, etc. which are critical to transgender persons’ lives and reality, wherein many are engaged in marriage-like relations, without any legal recognition from the State.

The committee has recommended that there should be separate HIV Sero-surveillance Centres operated by Centre and State Governments, since hijras/transgenders face several sexual health issues.

Provision of separate public toilets and other facilities to transgender persons, counseling services to cope up with trauma and violence, career guidance, online placement support, separate frisking zones of transgender persons at public places, with frisking by transgender persons,  are some other recommendations made by the Committee.

Recognition of the rights of transgender persons to partnership, marriage, divorce and adoption, and census of transgender persons have also been recommended by the Committee.