A brief note on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and its impact on the Indian Corporate/Workplace Scenario
Authored by: Alok Tewari, Shivika Upadhyay & Vishal Singh, Kochhar & Co.
The golden thread passing through the equality scheme1 of the Indian constitution is “enjoyment of life by all citizens and an equal opportunity to grow as human beings irrespective of their race, caste, religion, community, social status and gender”.
One of the basic tenets of the equality scheme lies in the recognition and acknowledgement of the “right of choice and self-determination”. Determination of gender to which one belongs and relates to is intrinsic to an individual’s right of self-determination and his/her dignity.
Acknowledging that Indian laws are substantially binary in nature recognizing only the genders of male and female, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India vide its order dated 15th April, 2014 in the case of National Legal Services Authority vs. Union of India2 (“Nalsa Judgement”), declared Transgenders3 apart from binary genders, as the “Third Gender” under our constitution and for the purposes of laws enacted by the parliament and state legislatures.
Non-recognition in our legal framework of the Third Gender has resulted in systematic denial of equal protection of law and widespread socio-economic discrimination in society at large as well as the Indian workspace. In wake of the Nalsa Judgment, the Indian parliament has recently enacted the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act,20194 (“the Act”).
