New Delhi, April 8 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the Centre's response to two petitions challenging provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, which removes the right to self-perceived gender identity.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notices to the petitions filed by Chandresh Jain and Lakshay Jain and asked the central government to file its response within six weeks.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, was passed by Parliament on March 25 and received President Droupadi Murmu's assent on March 30.
Petitioner Chandresh Jain said the Act "removes and dilutes" self-perceived gender identity and instead introduces a system of state-controlled verification, certification, and screening of gender identity, which violates the rights to dignity, privacy, and decisional autonomy under Article 21 of the Constitution.
His petition further stated that the amendment Act is manifestly arbitrary and disproportionate, and it infringes Article 19(1)(a) by restricting the expression of gender identity.
Lakshay Jain's petition said that the amendment altered the existing legal framework by replacing self-perceived gender identity with a system of medical and administrative verification, including scrutiny by a district magistrate (DM).
His plea stated that such a requirement is clearly in violation of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority versus Union of India, which held that gender identity is a matter of self-identification, and psychological identity must take precedence over biological attributes.
Chandresh Jain's plea emphasized that the apex court has already held that gender identity is an integral part of dignity, autonomy, and personal liberty under Articles 14, 19(1)(a), and 21, and every individual has the right to a self-identified gender.
The case will be next heard on July 22.