Amid Trump's influence, India considers denying & criminalizing trans people & their healthcarehttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/03/amid-trumps-influence-india-considers-denying-criminalizing-trans-people-their-healthcare/ 🔗Greg Owen (25 March 2026)
India's conservative ruling party under Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved this week to roll back the right of self-determination for transgender and other gender nonconforming people in the world's most populous nation.
New legislation would omit any individual with "self-perceived gender identities" from the current definition of "transgender person," and determine trans identity only through a state-mandated medical board of "experts."
While traditional socio-cultural identities such as "kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta" are included, a transgender definition "shall not include, nor shall ever have been so included, persons with different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities," proposed legislation from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reads.
Activists and lawmakers in opposition to the bill say it runs counter to a landmark 2014 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the right of transgender people to self-identify. The 2019 law, which the new legislation seeks to amend, codified that right.
Additional provisions include a requirement for trans people and healthcare providers to notify the government after a gender-affirming surgery, and provide identifying information; and a mandate to punish persons who "kidnap or abduct" any adult or child and "cause them to undergo any procedure to impose a transgender identity against their will or consent," Live Law India reports.
The recommended sentence for exerting "undue influence" on trans youth is life in prison.
