An appeal has been filed before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday asking for the execution of the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 in the State of Uttar Pradesh. The appeal filed via Advocate Shamsher Yadav Jagrana also asked for a direction to the Uttar Pradesh State government to comprise the Transgender Welfare Board as maintained by the lawful provisions of the Act. The appellant has stated that the assessment laid down by the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India must be executed. It has been underlined that the Central government had already looked for a response from the UP government on the execution of the Transgender Persons Act. The appellant has also identified that in September last year, several news publications were recommending that the State government was going to form a Transgender Welfare Board or Kinnar Ayog. However, the same has not been comprised thus far.
The appeal is probably to be heard in the second week of April.
The Act was advised on December 5, 2019. The Uttar Pradesh Governor correspondingly gave his approval for its implementation in the State.
As per section 4 of the act, any transgender person shall have a right to be accepted as such, following the provisions of this Act. It also mentioned that such persons shall have a right to self-perceived gender identity.
LGBTQ community has to make an application before the District Magistrate for issuance of a certificate of identity as a transgender person. If the case is of a minor child then such application shall be made by parents or guardian of the minor child.
As per Section 18 of the act, imperiling the life, safety, health, or well-being, whether physically or mentally, of a transgender person or causing physical exploitation or exploitation including oral, sexual, emotional shall be punishable with imprisonment for a span which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years and with fine.
Needless to mention that the Act itself is under challenge before various fora including the Supreme Court and the Karnataka High Court.
