Bureaucratization of transgender rights: perspective from the ground

Jain, Dipika, Pillai, Gauri, Shukla, Surabhi and Jos, Justin (2018) Bureaucratization of transgender rights: perspective from the ground. Socio-Legal Review, 14 (1). pp. 99-142. ISSN 09735216

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Abstract

The Supreme Court directive in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India brought in a transformative change by granting legal recognition to transgender persons. The Court issued several dicta, aiming to provide rights to transgender people and protect them from discrimination. The case marked a landmark shift in the legal regime, previously often characterized by the constant persecution and denial of rights to transgender persons. Yet, there have been multiple records indicating that the Supreme Court orders have not been adequately implemented by the states in India. To monitor and record the progress in various states, the Centre for Health Law, Ethics and Technology, JGLS initiated the RTI mechanism. Eleven questions, modeled on the Supreme Court directives in the case, were asked to several departments of all states. The responses received have been presented in a tabular form, accompanied by analysis comparing the responses to media reports about measures taken by various states to implement the Supreme Court decision. The uneven implementation of the Supreme Court directives in various states and union territories is telling and reiterates the gap that exists between a landmark judgment and its implementation on the ground. The responses indicate that though states have taken positive steps in some fields, action remains lacking in others. We further detail the contradictions in the replies presented by a few states, and the difficulties we faced in initiating the RTI mechanism. This study can be utilized by activists and other relevant civil society actors to engage with their respective State Departments in advocacy efforts.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Transgender's rights in India | Legal recognition | Orders not implemented by States | Psychological issues of faced by transgenders
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Social Sciences (General)
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Human Rights
JGU School/Centre: Jindal Global Law School
Depositing User: Subhajit Bhattacharjee
Date Deposited: 25 Apr 2022 05:53
Last Modified: 25 Apr 2022 05:53
Official URL: https://77c86aee-837e-44bb-89c9-565f7c248f89.files...
Additional Information: We would like to thank Aishwarya Singh for assisting us with filing the RTIs. We would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Srishti Mukherjee and Rhea Bagaria in tabulating the RTIs. We would like to thank Elizabeth Carty for her research assistance. We are grateful to the editorial team of Socio-Legal Review for their excellent editorial assistance. We would especially like to acknowledge Dhruva Gandhi and Shubhangi Maheshwari. Our gratitude to CHLET Fellow, Samuya Maheshwari and CHLET Research Assistant, Vandita Khanna for their excellent editorial and research assistance. Further, we are grateful to Dr. C. Raj Kumar and O.P. Jindal Global University for their constant support to CHLET initiatives at JGLS. Finally, we our indebted to transmen, transwomen, intersex, Hijra, gender variant and gender non-conforming friends and activists in India who continue to inspire our work. As cis gender academics and researchers, we remain attentive to our location of privilege.
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/2626

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