New Delhi: The Central government told the Delhi high court on Monday that transgender persons will now be included as a separate gender in the National Crime Records Bureau’s Prison Statistics Report.
According to Bar and Bench, the court was hearing a petition filed by Karan Tripathi, a legal journalist. Tripathi had sought separate data on transgender prisoners in the NCRB reports.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma told a division bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan that the NCRB had declared that it intended to classify prisoners under three gender categories – male, female and transgender persons.
Given the ASG’s statement, the PIL was disposed of.
On the previous hearing, the court had asked the Centre to respond while saying that “prima facie, the prayers are very pertinent and reasonable”.
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Tripathi’s petition argued that to ensure equality and protection under Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the constitution, transgender prisoners must be categorised separately. Citing the NALSA v Union of India judgment, the petition said the rights of transgender prisoners could not be recognised until they were properly identified.
The petitioner, Tripathi, celebrated the Centre’s statement on Twitter, calling it a “big win”.