Kerala HC allows two transgender persons to continue hormone therapy amid petitions against new law
· Scroll
The Kerala High Court on Friday allowed two transgender persons to continue hormone replacement therapy after they alleged that hospitals had halted their treatment after the 2026 Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Amendment Bill was passed, Bar and Bench reported.
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The bill was cleared by Parliament on March 25 after a motion to refer the proposed legislation to a select parliamentary committee was rejected. The legislation amends the 2019 Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Act by redefining who qualifies as a transgender person.
It removes transgender persons’ right to a self-perceived gender identity and limits the scope of the law to those with certain biological or physiological characteristics, intersex variations, or specific socio-cultural identities such as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta.
In the High Court on Friday, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas was hearing two petitions against the amended Act. After hearing the submissions, he issued notice on the petitions, Live Law reported.
Challenging several provisions of the legislation, the two petitions argued that it contradicts the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the 2014 National Legal Services Authority v Union of India case, or the NALSA case, by removing self-identification and adding mandatory medical certification.
This judgement had formally created the “third gender” category for transgender persons that recognised them as a socially and economically backward class.
Both petitioners also noted...