The Supreme Court on January 27, asked the government to explain why a law meant to protect the transgender community requires a magistrate’s certificate as a prior condition for the State to even identify a transperson. The court was responding to a petition filed by Swati Bidhan Baruah, an Assam-based advocate and transgender rights activist. As this story develops, here's our podcast on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019, when it was made into law by Parliament in November last year. This podcast looks at which provisions in the Bill are problematic and why it was met by protests from activists and the transgender community, who said it showed a poor understanding of gender and sexual identity.
Guest: Ramya Kannan, Chief of Bureau, T.N., The Hindu