President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, the Union Law Ministry said in a gazette notification on Monday (March 30, 2026).
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) passed the Bill, a day after the Lok Sabha cleared the legislation. The Opposition had demanded the Bill should be sent to a select committee of the House for further scrutiny, as it had provisions that would have an impact on the dignity of third-gender people.
Parliament clears Transgender Bill amid an uproar
Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar, countering the Opposition’s charges against the Bill, had said it was an effort to take along all segments of the society together. He had said that the Bill would ensure protection to only those who face discrimination due to biological issues and added that transgender people will continue to get legal recognition and protection.
The government had said that the “existing vague definition” of transgender persons had made it “impossible to identify the genuine oppressed persons to whom the benefits of the Act are intended to reach”. It said the law was never meant to protect “each and every class of persons with various gender identities, self-perceived sex/gender identities or gender fluidities” and “was and is intended to protect only those who face severe social exclusion due to biological reasons for no fault of their own and no choice of their own.”
