New Delhi, Oct 17 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday said the Centre and states have exhibited a “grossly apathetic attitude” towards transgenders by defacing the lived realities of this community with their inaction.
The apex court expressed serious concern over the discrimination faced by transgenders despite enactment of a law in 2019 and directed the Centre to come out with an “equal opportunity policy” within three months of the report submitted by an advisory panel.
The court flagged the sporadic or a complete lack of implementation of measures to ensure the prevention of discrimination against transgenders in various spheres of life, both public and private.
A bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, was enacted to secure the dignity, equality and inclusion of transgenders in the mainstream, considering the cruel history of their policing.
The bench said unfortunately, it appeared that the 2019 Act and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020, have been “brutishly reduced to dead letters”.
“The Union of India and the States have exhibited a grossly apathetic attitude towards the transgender community, by defacing the lived realities of this community with their inaction,” it said.
“Considering the protraction of this inaction, such an attitude cannot be reasonably considered to be inadvertent or accidental; it appears intentional and seems to stem from deep-rooted societal stigma and the lack of bureaucratic will to effectuate the provisions of the 2019 Act and the 2020 Rules respectively,” it said.
The top court delivered its verdict on a plea filed by a transgender woman who was aggrieved by the discrimination and humiliation she faced in employment which allegedly resulted in her termination from two different schools.
The bench said the litigation before it was an eye-opener for one and all and it calls for an immediate attention to the plight of the transgender community in the country.
Referring to a previous judgement of the apex court, the bench said the court had acknowledged that transgender community faces obstacles in accessing employment opportunities because of prejudicial societal norms, where deviation from the “masculine” and “feminine” perception was looked upon unfavourably.
It said the court had directed the Centre to devise a policy framework in consultation with National Council for Transgender Persons to reasonably accommodate transgenders in the avenues of employment under establishments covered by the provisions of the 2019 Act.
“Despite the clear directions of this court in the order dated September 8, 2022 referred to above, the Union of India has feigned ignorance and has chosen not to act on these directions. Their inaction is, therefore, demonstrably continuous,” it said.
The bench referred to a March 2023 response of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) to a question put in the Upper House of the Parliament.
It said after over six months of the directions of the apex court in September 2022, the official stance of the MoSJE was that there was no policy to reasonably accommodate transgender persons in employment which was under consideration.
“Effectively, the stance of the Union government was that there is altogether no need for any policy, as of now, as the 2019 Act provides for appropriate remedies. Such a stance is in blatant disregard to the mandate of Chapter IV of the 2019 Act which obligates the appropriate government to take steps in order to secure the full and effective participation of transgender persons and their inclusion in society,” the bench said.
It said the persisting inaction combined with a blanket refusal to bring forth any semblance of compliance to the 2019 Act, even in the future, was “deeply disturbing”.
The bench said the Centre was not the only party to be blamed and there seem to be a serious inertia on part of the states as well.
It said with the exception of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and recently Delhi, no other state has brought forth any rules along the lines of the 2020 Rules.
It noted that Odisha and Kerala have undertaken comprehensive policy measures but other states have situated themselves in a “comfortable silence”.
The bench said despite Rule 11 of the 2020 Rules compulsorily requiring the state government to form transgender protection cells, only 11 states have formed such cells since the enactment of 2020 Rules.
“As a consequence of all the above, at present we are faced with a situation wherein, all the concerned stakeholders have not only exhibited a serious and perennial lack of action, but have also reinforced discrimination towards the transgender community despite the existence of a statutory framework in that regard,” it said. PTI ABA MNL ZMN
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