Delhi HC asks Delhi govt to disclose steps taken for creation of separate toilets for transgenders

“At least wherever you are making new development and new buildings, there you should be providing,” said the division bench, while listing the case for further hearing on July 29.

The court was earlier told that the social welfare department in February 2021 has directed the government departments to have separate toilet facilities for transgenders and in the meantime directed that the existing toilets meant for persons with disabilities be designated for transgender people.

It was hearing a petition seeking the building of separate public toilets for transgenders in Delhi. The court in July last year had issued notice on the petition filed by Jasmine Kaur Chhabra, a law student, who has argued that every human being, irrespective of gender, has some basic human rights which also include the right to have a separate public toilet.

“It is not fundamentally or morally judicious/correct to ask any specific gender to use a public toilet which is made for another gender,” argues the petition.

Chhabra has further contended that not having a facility to use a separate public washroom would be violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. “When the third gender uses the washrooms made for male and female, then their Right to Privacy is violated,” the petitioner has argued, adding they also are prone to sexual assault and harassment in toilets for men.

The plea also states that the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) Revised Guidelines issued in 2017 recommend the creation of separate seats for toilets for transgender people. The discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity impairs equality and equal protection before the law and violates Article 14, the plea argues further.

Submitting that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 criminalises discrimination against a transgender person in education, employment, healthcare, movement and right to reside, the petition, while referring to the absence of separate toilets, contends, “This is a serious and concerning issue which the people of transgender community face in their daily life and even after several judgments and orders passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and other high courts, no action has been taken in this regard”.