Tharoor Slams Transgender Amendment Bill as Regressive
Tharoor expressed concern that the Bill was tabled “surreptitiously and without proper stakeholder consultation"
New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday criticised the newly introduced Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, in Parliament, calling it a “deeply regressive” proposal that threatens to roll back rights for the community.
In a post on X, the Thiruvananthapuram MP expressed concern that the Bill was tabled “surreptitiously and without proper stakeholder consultation.”
Tharoor argued that the amendments undermine the landmark 2014 Supreme Court NALSA judgment by deleting Section 4(2) of the 2019 Act, which guaranteed the right to self-perceived gender identity.
He stated that the Bill represents a reversal of the rights-based framework established after the NALSA judgment, replacing self-identification with systems of medical board verification and bureaucratic certification before identity can be recognised.
The proposed Bill seeks to provide a precise definition for the identification and protection of transgender persons eligible for benefits under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
However, Tharoor claimed the new definition is significantly narrowed and risks excluding trans-men, trans-women, non-binary, and gender-diverse individuals who were previously recognised, reducing gender identity to biological markers or limited socio-cultural categories.
He also raised privacy concerns over the mandatory reporting of gender-affirming surgeries to government authorities, warning that it could create a State registry of personal medical decisions. He said this would be difficult to reconcile with the Supreme Court’s Puttaswamy judgment on the right to privacy.
Tharoor cautioned that such provisions could push a historically marginalised community back into legal invisibility and stressed that a Bill with far-reaching consequences should be referred to a Standing Committee for proper scrutiny.
He expressed hope that reason and constitutional morality would prevail over what he termed a regressive proposal.
Earlier, on March 14, Social Justice Minister Virendra Kumar introduced the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha to amend the 2019 Act.
The Bill also proposes changes to Section 18 of the principal Act, introducing specific offences with graded punishments based on the severity of harm, irreversibility of injury, and the vulnerability of child victims.
Meanwhile, Tharoor also wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, forwarding concerns raised by CAPF veterans on service-related and institutional matters, and requested due consideration ahead of discussions on the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill, 2026 in Parliament.
