India's parliament has passed a controversial bill that seeks to change how transgender people are legally recognised and their right to self-identify, amid protests by opposition parties and the LGBTQ community.
The government says the changes will make welfare benefits more accessible and strengthen an existing law against exploitation and trafficking, but critics warn it could exclude many transgender, non-binary and gender-fluid people.
India is estimated to have around two million transgender people, though activists say the true number is higher and legal recognition remains uneven.
The legislation was approved by both houses this week and now needs the president's assent to become law.
In 2014, India's Supreme Court recognised transgender people as a "third gender" and affirmed their right to self-identify.
Despite legal protections, many transgender people in India continue to face discrimination and limited access to education, healthcare and formal employment, often relying on traditional or informal forms of work.
In 2019, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act was enacted, aimed at addressing vulnerabilities faced by the community.
Now, the new bill - essentially a proposed amendment to the 2019 law - centres on how a transgender person is defined.
The government says the current definition is too vague and makes it difficult to identify those who are most marginalised.
It argues that a narrower definition will help ensure welfare benefits - such as job reservations and healthcare support - reach those who need them.
It says the changes are intended to protect people facing "extreme and oppressive" discrimination and to prevent exploitation and trafficking.
The bill removes the right to self-identify and instead limits recognition to those defined by biological or physical traits. This includes people with intersex variations - where a person is born with sex characteristics that do not fit typical definitions of male or female - as well as traditional identities long used among transgender communities in India.
The bill also makes certification from medical boards and district authorities mandatory for those undergoing gender-affirming surgeries.
Activists say the new bill moves away from the self-identification principle of the 2014 court ruling and could reshape how transgender people are legally recognised.
Critics further argue that the new definition could exclude many transgender people, particularly those who rely on self-identification, including some trans men and women as well as non-binary and gender-fluid people.
They also say that mandatory medical certification undermines dignity and autonomy.
"It has shattered our identity," transgender rights activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi told reporters.
Activist Grace Banu told a press conference in Delhi that the community was seeking "recognition without invasion" and "rights without humiliation".
"This is not protection, but violation," Banu said.
The removal of "the factor of self-determination" in the bill is an "attack on the privacy and dignity of the individual", lawyer N Kavitha Rameshwar
wrote, external in The Times of India newspaper.
A Supreme Court-appointed advisory panel has asked the government to withdraw the bill, saying the removal of self-identification goes against the 2014 ruling of the top court. The panel also called for wider consultation, warning the changes could be a setback to efforts to protect transgender rights.
Over the past two weeks, members of the LGBTQ community have held protests across India against the proposed changes.
Opposition politicians have also criticised the bill and called it "draconian".
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi called it a "brazen attack" on transgender rights, while Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) questioned why it was introduced in what she called a "hasty manner".