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3

Institutional Injustice: Prejudices towards India’s Transgender and Intersex Persons*

Arpita Biswas

Introduction

Case backlogs and judicial delay are widespread across all levels of the Indian judicial system. These delays often lead to economic and socio-political setbacks. Other setbacks of this system include excessive litigation costs and over-crowded prisons.1 This is believed to lead to ‘higher poverty rates, higher crime rates, and industrial riots’.2

Referring to India’s ‘weak’ judiciary, Kohling addresses the added consequences of judicial delay. This includes ‘languishing’ undertrial prisoners, the quality of whose lives are severely impacted by the lack of adequate prison facilities and the nature of such delay. In addition, research shows that these systems specifically discriminate against marginalised groups.3

Raghavan states that prison systems in India have become a ‘powerful tool’ to control ‘unruly classes’ of people in order to maintain the status quo.4 While it is evident that prisons are over-crowded with disenfranchised groups of people, there is not much clarity on how these systems impact specific communities.5

With this in mind, in this chapter, I attempt to map the consequences of a ‘weak judiciary’ or judicial delay on the lives of India’s transgender and intersex population. The transgender and intersex population in India have a long-standing history. The hijra community for instance, has been around for more than 4,000 years and members of the community co-habit within a certain familial structure.6 Often, members of the hijra community identify as transgender or intersex.7 I have used the term ‘transgender and intersex community’ in this chapter8 because a large majority of the litigants in the cases involved and the people interviewed identify as transgender or as members of the hijra or kinnar communities.

While researching this chapter, I noticed that there was a lack of data available on transgender and intersex lives in India. To track down such data, I filed a Right to Information (RTI) application with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) enquiring about the number of undertrial convicted and detained prisoners who identified as transgender or of the third gender. The NCRB responded stating that such statistics were not available.

Available literature focuses on graphic instances of violence and police brutality on persons belonging to the transgender and intersex community. However, not much has been said about the manner in which transgender and intersex people interact with and navigate these systems. Without data or literature, it would be difficult to comprehend the impact of these systems on transgender people. Further, policy recommendations would ideally need to be supported by such data. This chapter attempts to add to the available literature.

Data on Judicial Delay

In this section, I analyse the nature of judicial delay and specifically the delay in cases involving transgender and intersex people.

Several cases and Law Commission reports have examined the status of judicial delay and have made recommendations for the timely disposal of cases.9 As far as ‘time limits’ are concerned, different sources stipulate different durations. The Supreme Court has attempted to set these time limits, but in 2002 in P. Ramchandra Rao v. State of Karnataka, the effort to establish time limits was discarded for flexible time frames.10 The Malimath Committee Report states that a case that goes on for longer than two years would be ‘delayed’.11 However, the case of Salem Advocate Bar Association, Tamil Nadu v. Union of India,12 divided timelines and introduced the concept of ‘case flow management rules’. As per this system, each case is segregated under a separate ‘track’, based on the nature of the offence, the quantum of punishment, and the time that is likely to be taken for the completion of the suit.13 The NCMS Policy and Action Plan added on to the discussion and stated that there was an ‘urgent need to make the Judicial System “five plus free” (that is, free of cases more than five years old)’.14

In the 245th Law Commission Report on ‘Arrears and Backlog: Creating Additional Judicial (wo)manpower’, different ways of determining judicial inefficiency were discussed. In this regard, the importance of time frames and case specific time tables were also discussed.15 The Law Commission states that time frames could be used to determine whether there was delay in a certain case.16 This would be determined by setting a ‘mandatory time limit’, beyond which a case would count as delayed.17 Further, the Law Commission states that case-specific time tables, which would be set by judges during the beginning of the proceeding is a better guideline and indicator of delay.18

For the purposes of this chapter, I analysed cases involving transgender and intersex people at the subordinate court level to determine how long such cases take to go through the judicial system. The cases I review were filed in Telangana, Delhi, and Rajasthan.

In addition, I have referred to certain figures and indices as a general indicator of delay. I have primarily relied on DAKSH’s report on Approaches to Justice in India, which contains figures on the ‘average pendency’ for criminal trials at the subordinate court level in each state.19 I have also referred to the ‘case clearance rate’20 of criminal trials at the subordinate court level in each of these states. For each state, the delay and amount of time for which the cases remain pending have been analysed in a separate sub-section.

In addition to the general delay, it is also important to consider the stage at which each case is pending. The tables below display the number of years a case has been pending, or how many years it took for the case to be disposed in the states of Telangana, Rajasthan, and Delhi.

Telangana

Pravallika, a transgender woman, was murdered in early 2015 in Hyderabad.21 It was reported that she was ‘brutally lynched’ by a group of men, who also proceeded to rob her. The accused, Venkat Yadav, is reported to be a notorious serial killer who is known for harassing, abusing, and violating transgender women. Following the murder of Pravallika, Yadav was arrested in February 2015, but was let out on conditional bail in October 2015.22

In the following years, Yadav continued to extort and harass transgender women. Several women have alleged that Yadav ‘threatened the complainants and their kin, and intimidated them into withdrawing their cases against him’.23 As of October 2018, it was reported that Yadav had still not been arrested. An online campaign was launched by Sampoorna, an NGO working on the rights of transgender people, to arrest Yadav.24 As per publicly available information, six FIRs have been lodged against Yadav, the status of four of these have been produced in Table 2.3.1.25

Table 2.3.1.Details of Cases Involving Transgender and Intersex People in Telanganak

The average pendency (in years) of a criminal case at the subordinate court level in Telangana is 4.4 years26 and the case clearance rate of criminal cases (close to 250 per cent)27 is the highest amongst all states.28

Rajasthan

In June 2014, Nagma, a kinnar person, and her companions were detained for allegedly assaulting a policeman in Ajmer.29 While under custody, her companions were physically abused, and she was sexually abused. After being produced before the magistrate, she was kept under judicial custody for four days with no access to healthcare.

While travelling from Bombay to Ajmer to attend hearings of the case alleged against Nagma and to follow up on the FIR, she was harassed and assaulted by two men on a motorbike, to allegedly deter her from pursuing the case against the policemen. Table 2.3.2 shows us the details of the FIR filed by Nagma against the police officers.

Table 2.3.2.Details of Cases Involving Transgender and Intersex People in Rajasthan

The average pendency (in years) of a criminal case at the subordinate court level in Rajasthan is 3.4 years30 and the case clearance rate of criminal cases (110 per cent)31 is on the higher side, compared to that of other states. The duration of pendency of this case is close to the average pendency of criminal cases in Rajasthan.32

Delhi

The DAKSH Report on ‘Approaches to Justice in India’ has a comprehensive set of figures on the pendency and disposal of cases at the subordinate court level in Delhi.33 Since all the cases mentioned below have been disposed of, the average number of days to disposal, rather than the average pendency of cases, has been considered. Following the methodology used in the DAKSH report, the average number of days to disposal has been calculated by finding the difference between the date of filing and the date of disposal of all cases.

Table 2.3.3 shows us figures of cases involving transgender and intersex people in the Delhi subordinate courts.

Table 2.3.3.Details of Cases Involving Transgender and Intersex People in Delhi

Based on the data in Tables 2.3.1, 2.3.2, and 2.3.3, one can identify that while it not possible to conclusively say that transgender people face a higher degree of judicial delay compared to cisgender people, it is possible to conclude that there is a general quantum of delay in the proceedings.

The next part of this chapter analyses interviews conducted with lawyers and activists. These interviews help shed light on the reality of judicial delay and its impact on the transgender and intersex community.

Prejudice and Violence Faced by the Transgender and Intersex Community

The biggest problems faced by the transgender and intersex community relate to discrimination and violence, perpetrated by state and non-state actors. The UNDP policy brief on ‘Hijras/Transgender Women in India’ demonstrates the forms of stigma and social exclusion members of the community face.38 The exclusion is three-fold and includes ‘exclusion from social and cultural participation’, ‘exclusion from economic participation and lack of social security’, and ‘exclusion from political participation’. For the purposes of this chapter and with regard to the information available, we have divided the instances into societal prejudice and violence, prejudice and violence by the police, and judicial prejudice. This part also includes excerpts from interviews conducted with activists and lawyers working on the rights of the queer community, along with the people who have been on the receiving end of prejudice or violence.

Societal Prejudice, and Violence

As mentioned earlier, nation-wide statistics on crime rates or violence faced by the transgender and intersex community are not available. According to a survey conducted by an NGO called Swasti Health Resource Centre, four out of 10 transgender people have experienced sexual abuse.39 This study was conducted in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, and studied instances of ‘emotional violence’, ‘physical violence’ and ‘sexual violence’.40 In addition, the UNDP policy brief states that in a study conducted amongst the MSM (male-sex-male) community and members of the Hijra community, 46 per cent reported instances of being raped; 44 per cent reported instances of physical abuse; 56 per cent reported instances of verbal abuse; 31 per cent reported instances of being blackmailed for money; and 24 per cent reported instances in which their lives were under threat.41

There is also general, unquantifiable stigma that members of the community face from society. This aspect of social exclusion is discussed in the UNDP Report on hijras and transgender women:

Most families do not accept if their male child starts behaving in ways that are considered feminine or inappropriate to the expected gender role. Consequently, family members may threaten, scold or even assault their son/ sibling from behaving or dressing up like a girl or woman. Some parents may outright disown and evict their own child for crossing the prescribed gender norms of the society and for not fulfilling the roles expected from a male child.42

Prejudice and Violence from the Police

The police are a constant source of violence and harassment for the community. Legal instruments, like Section 377 of the IPC, the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959 (now repealed), the Karnataka Police Act, and the Telangana Eunuchs Act have been used by the police to harass, violate, and abuse transgender and intersex people.43

In 2014, the Bangalore Police ‘rounded up’ 200 transgender people, often breaking into houses to apprehend them, and sent them away to beggary colonies. At the time, this act was condemned as ‘illegal, brutal and unconstitutional’.44 The Karnataka Police Act and the Telangana Eunuchs Act also allows the police ‘to exert force on transgender population and subject them to arbitrary arrest, detention, extortion or abuse’.45

While collecting data for this chapter, I conducted interviews with a kinnar person in Delhi (A), who has been harassed by the police multiple times and has also had experiences with detention, most recently in September 2018. This was the second instance of such an occurrence. A stated that the police would physically violate her companions and this would occur on the streets of Connaught Place in New Delhi. According to A, they would also be chided and harassed for attempting to speak to people, and for attempting to beg. They were led to believe that the attempts at begging are what led to detention at both times.

In both instances, they were detained for a few hours, and not overnight. They were physically and verbally abused as well. According to A, abuse from the police was not a result of any specific behaviour of A or her companions but was unprovoked.

Indeterminate arrests and abusive behaviour from a state authority can lead to members of the kinnar community policing themselves further. A also stated that abusive and unchecked behaviour from the police was a deterrent to pursuing their traditional means of livelihood. A primarily resorts to attending badhaais, but she has stated that begging and sex work are not options due to harassment by the police and the general public as well. This is despite the Delhi High Court decriminalising begging. It was implied that all their means of livelihood, especially ones that the community has relied on for centuries, are kept out of reach from members of the kinnar community.

Transgender people are also seemingly attacked for their participation in public life or because of their visibility in the public eye. Due to the unending nature of this violence, there is further deterrence to the work they are allowed to undertake, and it also proves to be detrimental when they are begging.

Judicial Prejudice

To gain insight into the experiences of transgender people while interacting with the judiciary and the impact of judicial delay, I reached out to lawyers and activists working on the rights of transgender and intersex people across the country. In this section, interviews with Grace Banu, an activist who works on the rights of Dalit and transgender people and is affiliated with Trans Rights Now Collective, and Amritananda Chakravorty, a practicing lawyer in Delhi, who specialises in queer issues, have been analysed.

Judicial Indifference

As a practising lawyer who has worked on several cases relating to the rights of transgender people, Amritananda stated that she had witnessed her clients experiencing prejudice and discrimination from judges.46 In one case, a transgender man had filed a habeas corpus petition to secure the release of his partner, who had been held captive by her family due to the nature of their relationship. During the proceedings, the judges commented on the nature of their relationship, stating that it may have been lawful but it was not ‘socially acceptable’. Further, they asked the transgender man to ‘not take advantage’ of his partner and stated that she was in a ‘vulnerable position’.

She also stated that government agencies and judicial bodies have not ‘interacted’ with the transgender and intersex community, and therefore, lack the sensitivity needed to adequately address the rights of those affected.

Grace Banu expressed similar concerns, stating that the process of accessing judicial services was ‘very difficult’ and finding lawyers who understand the transgender experience was a tedious process.47 In one instance, when Grace and her friends filed a PIL in the Madras High Court demanding separate reservation for transgender people for education and employment, they had to ‘sensitise’ the lawyer and explain their situation before he filed the case.

She also stated that in certain cases the impact of delay was ‘mentally and physically disturbing’. In one instance, a suit was filed by a transgender person who had appeared for a government exam which had separate cut-off marks for transgender applicants. Despite scoring high marks, they could not be placed since the cut-off had not been announced. This case has been pending for more than a year, the impact of which is grave, since there is little alternate recourse available.

This form of prejudice also leads to a certain amount of judicial indifference, where judges are insensitive to the unique issues in the transgender community. Amritananda implied that judges often ‘invisiblise’ threats of violence in cases where transgender people require protection from their families. This indifference adds to judicial delay as well. An instance of ‘invisibilisation’ involved one of Amritananda’s clients, a transgender sailor who had served with the navy for seven years and was terminated after coming out as transgender. Since serving with the armed forces resulted in accruing a specific set of skills, the client, who had not completed their formal higher education, found it difficult to find alternate employment opportunities after being terminated. Amritananda implied that this resulted in an erasure or ‘invisibilisation’ of their professional accomplishments.

Lastly, she stated that the judicial system was not ‘built to incorporate a transgender person’s life’. Aside from the judiciary, ‘every level of the government, how spaces are envisaged and how recruitment processes are envisaged’ also implied that the lives of transgender and intersex people were not taken into consideration at any stage.

Structural and Administrative Difficulties

Both interviewees commented on the forms of structural and administrative difficulties transgender people face while navigating the judicial system, and the manner in which these issues exacerbate judicial delay.

Amritananda stated that the first interaction a transgender person has with the judiciary is that of filing a case. At this stage, some of her clients have been unable to get their affidavits notarised. These affidavits have requirements of stating the birth assigned at gender, and in some instances, notaries have ‘created problems’ if their identity cards were not congruent with their perceived gender. These hindrances at the early stages of filing a case also lead to delays in the litigation process.

Lack of proper identification documents, which identify the preferred gender of people, has proven to be a hindrance in matters related to education, employment, and livelihood,48 personal finances, and healthcare access as well.49 Referring back to Table 2.3.3, it was noticed that most case names from the Delhi subordinate court mention the birth name, along with the chosen name of the petitioners/respondents. It is unclear whether this practice is necessary and points to issues with gender and documentation which is discussed further in the following section of this chapter.

Impact of Judicial Delay

Cost of Judicial Delay

Amritananda specified that for most transgender and intersex people, being able to visit courts was difficult, and if they did manage to make it ‘they (would) need all their relief now’.

This is supported by the fact that a large number of transgender and intersex people work in the unorganised sector, mostly making ends meet through begging, attending badhaais and through sex work.50 Any amount of judicial delay, or follow up, implies a massive economic setback as well, and most transgender and intersex people have no alternate recourse.

Aside from those who choose to seek recourse with the judiciary, there are those who do not have the option or the time. Amritananda referred to her clients as the exception to the norm (having chosen litigation), stating that most people would rather find alternate means of employment once they had been displaced from their original jobs. She stated that it was only in instances of serious threats to life and security that most people would choose to go to court.

Amritananda reiterated that being able to work with lawyers who understood the issues faced by transgender and intersex people was difficult, and trials are cost-prohibitive too.

Further, judicial delay keeps lives on hold, and leads to difficulties in finding employment opportunities. In the instance of the transgender person who was terminated from the navy, Amritananda stated that the petitioner had spent the entirety of their professional career with the armed forces and did not get a chance to pursue a higher education and thus were not qualified to pursue other career choices. In the aftermath of the judicial proceedings, their case gained public attention, which made it harder to acquire a job. The proceedings are under way and according to Amritananda, would still take about 6–8 months to be completed. Currently, this petitioner has had to go back to their town, where they are ostracised for their identity and have had to face added stigma.

Reluctance to Approach the Judiciary

It is important to note that discrimination within the community could also lead to a reluctance or inability to approach the judiciary. Grace Banu stressed the fact that casteism exacerbated the issues faced by the transgender community, stating that even amongst the community, only those who were upper caste had access to the judiciary. She pointed out that a majority of the landmark proceedings on queer rights in India were dominated by upper caste clients and lawyers.

Recommendations to Address Judicial Delay

One of the major hindrances for transgender and intersex petitioners/respondents seems to be the insensitivity of lawyers and judges alike. As mentioned earlier, transgender and intersex clients often have to sensitise lawyers themselves, which poses as an added burden to a judicial process that is tedious to begin with. Gender sensitisation or sensitivity-based training for all legal personnel would play an important role in this regard.

An easier way to change the ‘gender’ requirement in official documentation or a less stringent requirement for ‘gender’ would also be significant.

Lastly, addressing general issues such as ‘administrative inefficiency, infrastructural deficits and human resource deficits’ would ensure that transgender and intersex people would not have to make multiple court visits and would have quicker access to justice.51

Conclusion

Based on the interviews I have conducted, it is noticeable that the basic process of litigation takes a toll on members of the community. Considering the general length of judicial proceedings in India, it is important to note that there is a need to ameliorate judicial delay; however, there is a more urgent need to sensitise lawyers and judges. As mentioned earlier, their prejudice often gets in the way of timely access to justice. If left unchecked, members of the transgender and intersex community would be vulnerable to further discrimination and violence.

In this regard, it is also important to consider the ‘invisibilisation’ of transgender people. This invisibilisation is evident from the instances of improper identification techniques and the erasure of professional accomplishments of the armed forces personnel post-transition. The erasure of transgender lives and identities, largely by other members of the LGBT+ community, has been well-documented.52

To fight erasure, there is a need to include transgender and intersex people at every stage of decision-making. There is also a need for inclusive policies and reservations, similar to the PIL being heard in the Madras High Court. The Madras High Court recently issued a notice to the State of Tamil Nadu in a PIL demanding ‘horizontal’ reservations.53 Activist Grace Banu filed this PIL with the Madras High Court, demanding ‘horizontal reservations’ as opposed to ‘vertical reservations’, which is currently the form of reservations available for the ‘third gender’ in the state.54 In 2015, a government order created a vertical reservation for transgender people by including them in the ‘Most Backward Classes’ category. However, Grace’s PIL challenges this system of reservation, as it is most likely to overlook the unique challenges faced by members of the community and would also lessen their chances of gaining access to employment/educational opportunities.

Lastly, while it is important to acknowledge and combat gender-based discrimination and violence, it is equally important to acknowledge that these issues do not exist in isolation from other rights related to caste, class, and religion. Going forward, it is important to consider whether the benefits that accrue within the queer community are merely for a select few or whether they are accessible to a wider group of people.

Notes:

* In addition to the people and organisations acknowledged and cited in the chapter, I would like to thank the following organisations for their support and guidance: Point of View (Mumbai), Sambhabona (Kolkata), Queerala (Kerala), ATMA (Manipur) and Nazariya LGBT (Delhi). I would also like to thank Sanjay Suraneni for his help with tracking down cases in Telangana.

  1. Wolfgang K.C. Koehling. 2000. The Economic Consequences of a “Weak Judiciary”: Insights from India. Centre for Development Research, University of Bonn.
  2. Koehling, The Economic Consequences of a “Weak Judiciary”. This study focuses on judicial systems in 25 states and union territories from 1971 to 1996 and defines the quality of the judiciary in terms of: (a) its speed in deciding trials; and (b) the predictability of the trial outcome.
  3. The Wire. 2019. One in Every Three Under-trial Prisoners in India is Either SC or ST: Study. The Wire, 20 January. Available online at https://thewire.in/rights/one-in-every-three-under-trial-prisoners-in-india-is-either-sc-or-st-study (accessed on 24 January 2019).
  4. Vijay Raghavan. 2016. Undertrial Prisoners in India: Long Wait for Justice. Economic and Political Weekly, 51(4): 17–19.
  5. Irfan Ahmed and Md. Zakarai Siddiqui. 2017. Democracy in Jail: Over-representation of Minorities in Indian Prisons. Economic and Political Weekly, 52(44): 98–106.
  6. M. Michel Raj. 2015. Historical Evolution of Transgender Community in India. Asian Review of Social Sciences, 18(4): 17–19, as cited in Akanksha Mishra. 2016. Third Gender Rights: The Battle for Equality. Christ University Law Journal, 5(2): 9–21.
  7. United Nations Development Programme. 2010. Hijras/Transgender Women in India: HIV, Human Rights and Social Exclusion. India: United Nations, 8–10. Available online at http://www.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/hijras_transgender_in_india_hiv_human_rights_and_social_exclusion.pdf (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  8. The reason I did not use the term ‘hijra’ or ‘kinnar’ throughout the chapter is because that would limit the scope of the findings to a specific community and would also exclude other people interviewed for this chapter. I have also not used a broader term like ‘non-normative gender identities’ because that would include anyone who does not exclusively identify as cisgender and may exclude cisgender intersex people as well. This would not be in line with the people interviewed and the data studied for this chapter. Since I would like the findings to be applicable to a larger subset of non-normative gender identities, I have used the term ‘transgender and intersex.’ Furthermore, in the NALSA v. Union of India (W.P. Civil No. 604 of 2013) judgment passed in 2014, the Supreme Court of India recognized the ‘third gender,’ which is an umbrella term. Using this term would also not be ideal, since the text of the judgment has several different definitions of the ‘third gender.’ These definitions are laid down in paragraph 11 of the judgment.
  9. There are over 10 reports that analyze the causes of judicial delay and make recommendations as well. They are available at lawcommissionofindia.nic.in.
  10. P. Ramachandra v. Union of India, (2002) 4 SCC 578, as cited in Law Commission of India, Report No. 245: Arrears and Backlog: Creating Additional Judicial (wo)manpower, 5–6.
  11. Ministry of Law. 2003. Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System (Malimath Committee). New Delhi: Government of India. Available online at https://mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/criminal_justice_system.pdf (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  12. Salem Advocate Bar Association v. Union of India, (2005) 6 SCC 344.
  13. In this case, criminal trials relating to ‘capital punishment, rape and cases involving sexual offences or dowry deaths’ were to be segregated into Track I and these cases were to be completed in nine months.
  14. National Court Management Systems. 2012. Policy Action Plan. New Delhi: Supreme Court of India. Available online at https://www.sci.gov.in/pdf/NCMSP/ncmspap.pdf (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  15. Law Commission of India. 2014. Report No. 245: Arrears and Backlog: Creating Additional Judicial (wo)manpower. New Delhi: Government of India, 3–8. Available online at http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/reports/Report_No.245.pdf (accessed on 24 January 2019).
  16. Law Commission of India, Report No. 245, p. 7.
  17. Law Commission of India, Report No. 245.
  18. Law Commission of India, Report No. 245, p. 7.
  19. DAKSH. 2018. Approaches to Justice in India. Available online at http://dakshindia.org/Daksh_Justice_in_India/19_chapter_01.xhtml#_idTextAnchor087 (accessed on 3 May 2019), 92–114.
  20. Number of cases disposed in a particular year divided by the number of cases filed in that year multiplied by 100.
  21. TNM Staff. 2018. “Harassed and Beaten”: Transgender Persons Protest in Hyderabad, Demand Arrest of Extortionist. The News Minute, 1 October. Available online at https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/harassed-and-beaten-transgender-persons-protest-hyd-demand-arrest-extortionist-89235 (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  22. Scroll. 2018. Online Campaign Urges Hyderabad Police to Arrest Man Accused of Assaulting Trans Women. Scroll, 11 October. Available online at https://scroll.in/latest/897933/online-campaign-urges-hyderabad-police-to-arrest-man-accused-of-assaulting-trans-women (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  23. Scroll.in, ‘Online Campaign Urges Hyderabad Police’.
  24. The Hans India. 2018. Chronology of Crimes on Transgenders by Venkat Yadav. The Hans India, 5 October. Available online at https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Telangana/2018-10-05/Chronology-of-crimes-on-transgenders-by-Venkat-Yadav-/419370 (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  25. DAKSH. 2018. Deconstructing Delay: Analyses of Data from High Courts and Subordinate Courts, Approaches to Justice in India, Figure 8, p. 98.
  26. DAKSH, ‘Deconstructing Delay’, Figure 19, p. 106.
  27. Apart from the time taken by these cases to go through the judicial system, the larger concern is the fact that Venkat Yadav is still absconding. Regardless of the case at Sanath Nagar resulting in a conviction, reports from 2018 suggest that Yadav is still out on conditional bail granted in late 2015. Reports indicate that after being granted bail, he harassed family members of complainants, attempting to force them to withdraw complaints. See Scroll.in, ‘Online Campaign Urges Hyderabad Police’.
  28. Dhamini Ratnam. 2014. Ground Report: Crime and Punishment. LiveMint, 5 December. Available online at https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/5XCUSYRBJYDccUROFjs4bM/Ground-Report-Crime-and-punishment.html (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  29. DAKSH, ‘Deconstructing Delay’, Figure 8, p. 98.
  30. DAKSH, ‘Deconstructing Delay’, Figure 19, p. 106.
  31. DAKSH, ‘Deconstructing Delay’, p. 98.
  32. DAKSH, ‘Deconstructing Delay’, pp. 100–103.
  33. DAKSH, ‘Deconstructing Delay’, Figure 13, p. 101.
  34. United Nations Development Programme. 2010. Hijras/Transgender Women in India: HIV, Human Rights and Social Exclusion, India: United Nations, pp. 8–10. Available online at http://www.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/hijras_transgender_in_india_hiv_human_rights_and_social_exclusion.pdf (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  35. IANS. 2017. Abuse of Transgender Indians Begins in Early Childhood. The News Minute, January 7. Available online at https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/abuse-transgender-indians-begins-early-childhood-55374 (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  36. The News Minute, ‘Abuse of Transgender Indians’.
  37. United Nations Development Programme, ‘Hijras/Transgender Women in India: HIV, Human Rights and Social Exclusion’.
  38. UNDP, ‘Hijras/Transgender Women in India’, p. 8.
  39. Ajita Banerjie. 2018. ‘Decriminalising Begging Will Protect Transgender Persons from Police Harassment’, The Wire, 17 August. Available online at https://thewire.in/rights/decriminalising-begging-will-protect-transgender-persons-from-police-harassment (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  40. Global Network of Sex Work Projects. 2015. ‘Hijra Sex Worker Activists Secure Release of 200 Hijras Detained by Indian Government’, Global Network of Sex Work Projects, 18 February. Available online at http://www.nswp.org/es/node/2300 (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  41. The Wire, ‘Decriminalising Begging Will Protect Transgender’.
  42. Amritananda Chakravorty, Advocate (Delhi, India, 19 December 2018).
  43. Grace Banu, Activist, Trans Rights Now Collective (Delhi, India, 24 December 2018).
  44. For instance, a lack of proper identification for transgender women in Rajasthan led to difficulties in a skill-training programme.

    In an effort to provide transgender women with an alternative means of livelihood, the Rajasthan Skill and Livelihoods Development Corporation (RSLDC) started a skill-training programme in 2017. This programme could not take off, however, due to ‘problems ranging from (lack of) funds to identity cards for transgender people’. Out of 22,000 people in the state, only 350 had identification cards which specified that they were transgender. Most transgender women identified as ‘female’ on their identity cards. The enrolment and registration system for this scheme was based on Aadhaar verification, which proved to be difficult due to a lack of proper identification. This was also supplemented by the fact that several transgender people did not have identification cards because of migration. In this instance, the RSLDC chose to relax the requirement of Aadhaar-based verification, for a short period of time.

  45. Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. 2018. ‘The Law Isn’t Straight: A Queer Person’s Guide to Accessing Rights’, available online at The Law Isn’t Straight: A Queer Person’s Guide to Accessing Rights (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  46. The Wire, ‘Decriminalising Begging Will Protect Transgender Persons’.
  47. DAKSH, ‘Deconstructing Delay’, p. 104.
  48. Viviane Namaste. 2000. Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
  49. PTI. 2019. ‘HC Notice to TN Govt. over Reservation Policy for Transgenders’, Business Today, available online at HC Notice to TN Govt. over Reservation Policy for Transgenders (accessed on 3 May 2019).
  50. The case of Union of India v. National Federation of the Blind and Ors. (Civil Appeal No. 9096 of 2013) lays down the difference between ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal reservations’.

Reservation for backward classes of citizens (SCs, STs and OBCs) is called vertical reservation and the reservation for categories such as persons with disabilities and ex-servicemen is called horizontal reservation. Horizontal reservation cuts across vertical reservation (in what is called interlocking reservation) and person selected against the quota for persons with disabilities have to be placed in the appropriate category viz. SC/ST/OBC/General candidates depending upon the category to which they belong in the roster meant for reservation of SCs/STs/OBCs. To illustrate, if in a given year there are two vacancies reserved for the persons with disabilities and out of two persons with disabilities appointed, one belongs to a Scheduled Caste and the other to general category then the disabled SC candidate shall be adjusted against the SC point in the reservation roster and the general candidate against unreserved point in the relevant reservation roster.