Trans people under 18 years and above 60 years should be housed in special shelter homes, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommended on Thursday (September 4, 2025), in a report on the Garima Greh, shelters for transgender people which are run by NGOs with funding from the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The Commission also found irregularities in the funds released to these special shelters, along with complaints of inexperienced staff and inadequate food for their residents.
NHRC secretary general Bharat Lal released the report, titled, ‘Rights of transgender persons — Revamping spaces, reclaiming voices’, which is based on the visit of an NHRC team to 12 such shelter homes in nine States. The team’s aim was to gather ground-level insights and develop evidence-based future courses of action for improvement in these shelter homes, he said.
Minors, elderly excluded
The Garima Greh shelters currently provide residential support for transgender people between the ages of 18 and 60, and are not permitted to house minors. However, as the only State-backed institutions for transgender individuals, these shelters frequently receive requests to accommodate gender nonconforming minors as well, the report said.
