The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on another petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act,2026, and tagged it with the batch of pending petitions assailing the legislation.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Anuraj M under Article 32 of the Constitution.
Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Anand Grover argued that the amended law ignores the concept of self-perceived gender identity recognised by the Supreme Court. He submitted that the legislation excludes the psychological and personal dimension of gender identity.
Grover pointed out to the court that the amendment fails to account for the internal perception of gender, such as when a person born male identifies as a woman.
Responding to the submission, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, cautioned that accepting such an interpretation could have far-reaching legal consequences.
Responding to the submissions, Mehta informed the court that the legal system would face administrative hurdles, claiming that 169 legal provisions would become non-functional if self-identified gender were accepted.
The petition has now been tagged with the pending batch of challenges to the Amendment Act.
The latest plea comes days after the Supreme Court issued notice on a separate writ petition filed by transgender rights advocate Ankani Biswas, challenging the proviso to Section 2(k) of the amended law.
The proviso states that the expression “transgender person” does not include, and shall never be deemed to have included, persons with different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities. According to the petitioners, this provision departs from the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India (2014), which recognised self-identification as the foundation for legal gender recognition.
Several petitions challenging the Amendment Act are currently pending before the apex court. Earlier, while issuing notice in the lead petitions, the Court declined to stay the operation of the law but observed that the constitutional issues raised required detailed consideration and referred the matter to a three-judge Bench.
The Centre subsequently sought transfer of similar challenges pending before the Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka and Rajasthan High Courts. Accepting the request, the Supreme Court stayed all proceedings before the High Courts and directed that the constitutional validity of the Amendment Act be examined exclusively by the apex court to avoid conflicting judicial pronouncements.
Among the principal petitions is one filed by transgender rights activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and another petitioner, contending that the Amendment Act violates the guarantees of equality, non-discrimination, freedom and dignity under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.
The petitioners argue that the amended definition of “transgender person” abandons the principle of self-identification recognised in the NALSA judgment and replaces it with a restrictive classification based on biological characteristics and specified socio-cultural identities. According to them, the amendment excludes a substantial section of the transgender community from legal recognition.
They have also challenged the deletion of the statutory recognition of the right to self-perceived gender identity, contending that the amendment amounts to a legislative dilution of constitutional principles laid down by the Supreme Court in NALSA. The petition further objects to the inclusion of persons allegedly forced into transgender identity within the statutory definition, arguing that it wrongly equates victims of coercion with individuals who identify as transgender and perpetuates stigma.
The batch of petitions challenging the Amendment Act is pending before the Supreme Court.
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