Courts and the making of transgender rights

It is inspiring to recall that seven decades ago, Hansa Mehta, a member of the Constituent Assembly, ensured that the phrase “All men are born free and equal” in the first Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was changed to “All human beings are born free and equal”.

- Ashish Bharadwaj

In Hindu mythology, there is an ancient cultural acknowledgment of gender fluidity. Yet, for decades, transgender people simply did not exist in the eyes of the law. They lived, struggled, raised families, danced at births, mourned at funerals, and were part of India’s social and spiritual fabric for centuries. Still, they remained on the margins, shunned from society, denied basic rights and targeted for their gender identities. And legally — on school forms, ration cards, voter IDs, and census sheets — they were invisible.

Until the late 1990s, voter registration forms did not provide an option beyond male or female, effectively disenfranchising transgender citizens. Public hospitals, welfare schemes, and official forms, all designed around a strict male-female binary, left them without access to essential services. Lacking legal recognition, many were unable to obtain basic identity documents, apply for jobs, or claim protections under existing laws — leaving them vulnerable to poverty, exploitation, and violence.

Until April 15, 2014.

There are some judicial decisions in India that fundamentally changed the complex calculus of sexuality, power, religion, caste, masculinity, patriarchy, and gender. The Supreme Court’s decision in National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India, 2014 stands as one such example.