Click to expand Image A protest against the transgender rights bill passed in Parliament, in Mumbai, India, March 25, 2026. © 2026 AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool India’s parliament passed a bill this week that changes how transgender people are legally recognized and removes their right to self-identification. If the bill becomes law, it will be a major reversal of the hard-won rights of transgender people in India.“These politicians are making laws for us when they don’t even have basic concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality,” said Akkai Padmashali, a trans rights activist. “This new bill criminalizes us and disrespects our right to exist.”The 2026 Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill amends the 2019 law that laid out an inclusive definition of transgender persons. Instead, it limits legal recognition to historically accepted socio-cultural groups such as hijra and kinner, as well as intersex individuals. This removes legal recognition for those who self-identify as trans men, trans women, or gender non-binary people.The bill also mandates medical certification for identity recognition, effectively removing the gains of the landmark 2014 Supreme Court judgment in NALSA v. India. International human rights standards provide for self-declared identity to form the basis for access to all social security measures, benefits, and entitlements.India’s last census recorded 487,803 transgender persons, but so far only about 32,500 have identity cards, essential for accessing various social security measures.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government hastily pushed the bill through both houses of parliament in the face of protests from transgender communities. Opposition members of parliament criticized the bill and sought a parliamentary committee to review the proposed law.The social justice and empowerment minister told parliament that the bill aims to protect only those who face severe discrimination due to biological reasons. However, the bill puts transgender persons at further risk by introducing additional offenses and up to life in prison for “coercing or alluring” people to be transgender. These are reminiscent of the colonial-era laws that criminalized transgender persons for appearing dressed as women and could be used to criminalize support systems of transgender persons, said the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.India’s president should not sign the adopted bill into law. Instead of adopting a regressive law, the government should have broad consultations with transgender communities and work toward expanding and enforcing their rights.