3 min readNew DelhiMar 31, 2026 04:11 PM IST
First published on: Mar 31, 2026 at 03:38 PM IST
Transgender Bill news: The Centre on Monday issued a notification stating that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, which proposes key amendments to the foundational law governing transgender rights, had received the assent of President Droupadi Murmu.
The law will come into force on a date to be notified by the Centre.
The notification read, “(1) This Act may be called the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026. (2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.”
At the heart of the amendment is a significant overhaul of Section 2 of the parent Act, which defines crucial terms.
The amendment broadens the meaning of “appropriate government” to clearly delineate responsibilities across the Centre, states, and union territories.
It also introduces a new definition of “authority,” identifying it as a medical board headed by a chief medical officer or deputy chief medical officer, to be constituted by the respective governments.
The transgender law excludes persons with “different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities” from this definition. (Image enhanced using AI)
Definition of transgender person revised
It now explicitly includes socio-cultural identities such as kinner, hijra, aravani, jogta, and eunuch, as well as persons with intersex variations arising from congenital differences in sexual characteristics, chromosomes, hormones, or gonadal development.
At the same time, the law excludes persons with “different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities” from this definition.
The bill has been facing opposition from various quarters including the people from the transgender community.
It also brings within its ambit individuals who may have been forced or induced to assume a transgender identity through physical or medical interventions.
The amendments mark a shift towards a more medically anchored and administratively structured recognition framework, while also raising questions about the scope of identity and inclusion under the law.
‘Selfhood not concession’: Rajasthan High Court
On the day the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 got the assent of the President, the Rajsthan High Court raise concerns over “personhood now risks being reduced to a contingent, State-mediated entitlement”.
The high court also said that “selfhood is not a matter of concession”, but a “matter of right” and urged the state to be mindful that “statutory developments cannot be implemented in a manner that dilutes constitutional guarantees”.
A bench of Justices Arun Monga and Yogendra Kumar Purohit was hearing a writ petition by a trans woman, Ganga Kumari, challenging the state’s January 12, 2023, notification that placed transgender persons in the OBC category without granting effective reservation, seeking its quashing and directions for horizontal reservation in line with the NALSA vs Union of India (2014) judgment.
“It is now proposed that legal recognition of gender identity shall be conditioned upon certification, scrutiny, or other forms of administrative endorsement. What was recognised by the Supreme Court as an inviolable aspect of personhood now risks being reduced to a contingent, State-mediated entitlement,” the court said on Monday.
The transgender law, which received Presidential assent on Monday, will come into force on a date to be notified by the Centre. (Image enhanced using AI) 
The transgender law excludes persons with “different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities” from this definition. (Image enhanced using AI)
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