The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, which introduces major reforms in the legal recognition, protection, and treatment of transgender individuals, has received the President’s assent. With this approval, the transformative legislation has now become law.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 which makes extensive changes to how transgender people are legally recognised, protected and treated has received the President’s assent and is now law.
This Act amends the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, narrowing the criteria for who is recognised as a “transgender person” and bolstering penalties for severe offences such as forced identity changes and bodily harm.
The legislation has drawn criticism from opposition parties and LGBTQIA+ organisations, who say they were not consulted before the Bill was introduced in Parliament. On the day the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill, two members of the National Council of Transgender Persons (NCTP), Kalki Subramanium and Rituparna Neog, resigned.
A Supreme Court–appointed committee reviewing transgender rights also urged the Union government to withdraw the Bill. Chaired by retired Delhi High Court judge Justice Asha Menon, the committee wrote to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, raising concerns about several provisions of the amendment and asking that the law be reconsidered.
Critics focus mainly on the removal of self-identification and the introduction of mandatory medical certification, which, they say, conflict with the Supreme Court’s principles in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment of 2014.
The Rajasthan High Court similarly warned that the amendment risks converting “an inviolable aspect of personhood” into a State-mediated entitlement for transgender people.
Key points of the Transgender Amendment Act
A prominent change is a tightened definition of “transgender person,” moving away from a broad, identity-based approach to a narrower framework.
The amended provision recognises socio-cultural identities such as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta, and includes people with intersex variations identified by biological characteristics such as genitalia, chromosomes and hormone patterns.
It also creates a category for people who have been forced, through coercion, inducement or deceit, to assume a transgender identity, including via surgical or hormonal interventions.
At the same time, the amendment explicitly excludes from the law’s definition those with “different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities,” removing self-identification as a standalone basis for recognition under the Act.
The Statement of Objects and Reasons says the earlier definition was “vague and broad,” making identification difficult. It adds that the law is intended to protect “a specified class of persons” facing severe social exclusion, rather than all gender identities.
It states,
“The legislative policy was and is intended to protect only those who face severe social exclusion due to biological reasons for no fault of their own and no choice of their own.”
The Act establishes a formal recognition process centred on a medical-board model. It defines an “authority” as a medical board headed by a Chief Medical Officer or Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
District magistrates will issue identity certificates after considering recommendations from these authorities and, where necessary, consulting other medical experts.
When gender change follows surgery, medical institutions must report relevant details to the authority, which will then issue revised certificates. The law also permits certified transgender persons to change their first name on official documents.
The amendment substantially expands Section 18 by introducing tiered punishments.
Where the earlier law provided up to two years’ imprisonment for general offences, the revised Act imposes much heavier penalties for serious crimes. Abduction and causing grievous harm to force someone into a transgender identity now carry a minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment, extendable to life imprisonment.
Comparable offences involving children attract life imprisonment. Coercion for exploitation, including forced begging or bonded labour, is punishable by 5 to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Less severe offences such as denying transgender persons access to public spaces, forced eviction and abuse continue to attract imprisonment ranging from six months to two years.
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