Guwahati, March 20 Transgender and LGBTQ+ collectives, along with individuals, opposed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, on Saturday, demanding its immediate withdrawal and calling it "discriminatory".
Speaking at a press conference here, community representatives alleged that the Bill proposes a restrictive redefinition of "transgender persons".
"It collapses intersex and transgender identities into a single category, despite these being distinct experiences. It also removes the right to self-identification, limiting legal recognition to specific socio-cultural identities such as Hijra, Kinnar, Aravani or Jogti, thereby excluding many others," said community spokesperson Prasant Meera.
He added that the Bill assumes individuals are forced into transgender identities through "coercion" or "undue influence".
The Supreme Court's 2014 NALSA judgment stated that "transgender" is an umbrella term recognizing persons whose gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth, Meera said.
"The Bill directly violates this principle by stripping away the right to self-determination," said another representative, Anamitra Bora.
The proposed definition creates arbitrary classifications using terms like "genuine oppressed persons" and "those in actual need," reinforcing unfounded claims of misuse, even as many protections under the 2019 Act remain unrealised, Bora said.
The Bill's requirement of medical scrutiny and mandatory disclosure of sensitive surgical information violates the fundamental right to privacy as granted by the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy judgment (2017), which recognized privacy, including bodily autonomy and decisional freedom, Meera said.
The Bill recommends changes to Section 18 of the Act by introducing an ambiguous framework, along with stricter punishments for several offences clearly overlapping with existing criminal laws, and adds to the confusion, they said.
These changes strengthen harmful stereotypes by linking transgender identity with crime and coercion.
The proposed changes also criminalise transgender individuals and their kin or allies by rigorous imprisonment of up to five years for "alluring" or "forcing" individuals to become transgender, despite a lack of credible evidence or documentation of such conduct in India, they added.
"The language used in the Bill is vague, broad and violates fundamental rights, and if passed, will lead to misuse and violence, affecting an already marginalised community and discouraging open expression of identity," the community members claimed.
Transgender persons have long been part of Assamese-speaking cultural life through Bhaona and other spaces. The region has distinct identities, such as Nupi Manbi and Nupa Manba in the Meitei community, which are not recognised in the Bill.
The 2019 Act did not fully acknowledge these identities, but permitted self-identification, and the proposed amendments remove this right entirely. Additionally, it completely erases other transgender identities, such as trans men and trans-masculine people, trans women and trans-feminine people who are not part of socio-cultural communities, non-binary individuals, gender queer people, and gender-diverse communities across India, which further creates ‘fake trans narratives’, the spokesperson said.
"This Bill does not merely amend legislation; it threatens the dignity and existence of transgender communities in Assam and across the Northeast, reflecting a broader pattern of racial erasure in policymaking by the central government," the community members claimed.
Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr Virendra Kumar had introduced the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha to amend the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, on March 13.