Suggested cue: Seven years after India adopted legislation to protect transgender people, it has passed new law to scale back those rights. The new law strips people of the ability to legally self-identify as transgender and puts new restrictions on who can receive gender-affirming surgery. It also makes it a crime, punishable by up to life in prison, to ‘force a person to assume a transgender identity. The government says the reform will improve welfare access and prevent exploitation, but critics warn it could further marginalize India’s estimated two million transgender people, who already face deep discrimination in education, healthcare and employment.  
Our correspondent Shalu Yadav spoke to those affected by this law in Delhi.  

Lower thirds:

0:03  Report by / Shalu Yadav & Abiraj Kumar Arulgnanakumar
0:36  Tan / Trans-non binary activist
2:04  Shalu Yadav / DW correspondent
2:21  Tan / Trans-non binary activist
3:14  Lucky / Founder, Queer-e-Junglers 
4:01  Tan / Trans-non binary activist

SCRIPT: 

India’s trans community is angry. Their lives have been upended with a new law that takes away their right to self-identify and limits the definition of who is transgender. 
UPSOT Tan addressing a protest - ‘if you don’t give us our rights, your intent is malicious’ 

Tan is a Trans-non Binary Activist... He says the Indian government has essentially reversed the progress made on trans rights over the last decade.  

(00.36-00.57) Tan, Trans-non binary activist:  - I attend maybe six calls a day of people crying. Wanting to kill themselves. Not knowing what to do. Wanting to rush to the courts. There's a lot of fear. There's a lot of anger. There's a lot of despair. There's a lot of hurt. And there's a lot of confusion. 

In 2019 the Indian government passed a law that recognised self-perceived gender identity and provided a legal framework for supporting the transgender community.  

(01.12- -01.40) Tan, Trans-non binary activist: - This act or this law has essentially stolen that from us. And if you are doing any of these gender affirmative medical procedures, the doctor who's providing you this care is legally mandated to inform the district magistrate who is the granting authority for your transgender identity cards. Why should they know what I'm doing with my body? Do cis women have to report when they get breast augmentation surgery or vaginal rejuvenation surgery or a rhinoplasty? They don't.  
Visuals of intersex community at a protest  

The new legislation maintains protection for intersex people – locally known as kinner, hijra or jogta. These groups are a part of South Asia’s long-standing third-gender traditions. But it excludes a large chunk of the Trans community that don’t belong to the Hindu mythological space.  

(2.04 - 02.21) PTC at protest site: The new law also means anyone trying to come to terms with their gender identity will find it difficult to get support...Those who try to help them run the risk of being imprisoned. It is now considered a crime to quote: ‘force’ a person to assume transgender identity. 

(2.21-2.32, 2.44-2.50) Tan, Trans-non binary activist: So when you do crisis intervention work, very often, young people, maybe like 18, 19, 20, will call you and talk about how their families  are being violent, how they're being forced  into conversion therapy,  how there's electric shock therapy  happening to them...When we've done this work in the past, we have had parents who've tried to file complaints against us saying that, you know, we've manipulated their children. And that's exactly what this 2026 Act has done. Right? Every time I help a young person understand whether they are trans or not trans, which is a journey I went through, I can go to jail for that. 

While there’s fear of prosecution, it has also created a state of flux for many. Lucky managed to get his gender changed to Male on some official documents, but his voting card was yet to be sorted. With the government abruptly enforcing a changed law, he is stuck in limbo.  

(3.14 - 3.49) Lucky, Founder, Queer-e-Junglers (in Hindi):  

I now have a national ID to prove that I am Indian but where do I come from on India's map? this is a big challenge to prove...I cannot vote in my state elections, as I need to be in NRC or the National Register of Citizens to prove that I am from the state of Assam. My name will not be on the voting list now - and even if it is, my gender is going to be incorrect...so how can I prove that I am from Assam? My parents say they wish to give their land to me but if I don't have name in NRC, I cannot inherit the land. 

the government defends the law and says it makes welfare benefits more accessible to the community. Rights groups have challenged its constitutionality in court. 

(4.01-4.07) Tan, Trans-non binary activist:: I will fight. I will fight because as marginalised peoples we have no other option but to fight. 

A fighting spirit that does not flinch... It knows where this ends.  

(4.18-4.25) Tan, Trans-non binary activist:: You can’t erase us. We WERE always here. And you’re going to have to take the act back—today or tomorrow, it is going down. 
 
ENDS