A joint platform of trans-queer communities and individuals from West Bengal voiced strong protests against the new Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, citing it as a parallel of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process for the community.
Activists also pointed out that transgender people, given their profession of begging in the streets, often do not have a fixed address, or documents, and are most vulnerable to climate change.
The Bill, the protesters said at a news conference at Press Club, Kolkata, is an attempt to cancel the hard-won rights of the transgender community and is a bid to invisibilise it further, especially trans-masculine men.
SIR left out many
Several community members felt that the Bill has to be read together with the SIR process, from which many community members have been excluded. The exclusion of identities and exclusion on the basis of identification documents from SIR, both of which the community is experiencing, may lead to exclusion from the state, activists apprehended.
The speakers protested the narrowing of the definition of the trans community in the Bill, which leaves out many identities. The Bill also defines gender strictly in terms of biology.
“The Centre wants to obliterate our identity,” said Rahul Mitra, a transman and trans rights activist. “The NALSA judgment (2014) gave us the freedom to self-identification, the right to choose one’s gender identity. Now the Centre wants to cancel it.”
Only those who are Hijras, Kinnars, Aravanis or Jogtas, or have related identities, are being recognised by the Bill. This excludes the trans-masculine and other identities. “This will affect our legal rights and our voting rights,” said Mitra.
Other than the few social identities that it mentions, the Bill talks of trans identity in terms of physical features, including genitalia. In the process, it becomes a mechanism to exclude a huge number of people.
Activists have always protested the idea of physical examination for the establishment of gender identity. The Bill also retains the previous provision of law that minimises punishment for sexual violence committed on transgender people.
Bill reinforcing SIR exclusions
In the current context, the Bill is being seen to be an effort to reinforce the exclusions generated by the SIR process. “SIR is the umbrella, under which the Transgender Bill has been introduced,” said Anurag Maitrayee, a transgender civil rights and cultural activist. “We have to understand that SIR is going to hurt all minorities, not any particular community.”
“This current move to introduce a devious amendment to the already compromised Trans Act of 2019 is an attempt to take away the fruits of hard fought labour by India’s diverse trans communities and their sacrifices,” said Anindya Hajra, a rights activist. “It is to be seen as an exercise of SIR that not only witch-hunts legitimate citizens but deliberately disenfranchises them from the exercise of their citizens’ rights, their right to autonomy and self determination, which are their fundamental and inalienable right,” Hajra added.
Migration adds to the problem
The trans community, members of which are largely migrants, has been affected adversely by SIR, claimed the activists. “Most transpersons are migrants. The enumeration form will reach their natal families. How many transpersons are in touch with their natal families? Many have been forced to leave their families,” said Maitrayee. “Often their families say they are dead.”
In addition, in many cases, a transperson’s current appearance may not match the appearance of that person in 2002. Neither may the identity papers, adds Maitrayee. Many transpersons have adopted an official transgender identity. Hence, considering all factors, a huge number of people are expected to fall through the gap of paperwork, pointed out the activists.
Sabyasachi, a lawyer who spoke at the event, mentioned an ongoing research that looks at the impact of climate change on the life of transgender persons who beg as a profession. “The community is also increasingly talking about the impact of extreme weather events on their lives. Migration is fundamental to their existence, and so is the loss of documents,” Sabyasachi added.