The Centre has informed the Delhi High Court that transgender category shall now be included as a separate gender category in Prison Statistics Report prepared by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma submitted this before the Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan hearing the petition.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by Karan Tripathi seeking inclusion of separate data on transgender category prisoners in NCRB reports.
On the last date of hearing, the Court had asked the Central government to come back with instructions with regards the pending representation of the petitioner.
Prima facie, the prayers are very pertinent and reasonable, the Court had said.
The petitioner had argued that to ensure equality and protection under Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India, it was imperative to categorize the third gender/transgenders as a separate gender in prison statistics.
Relying heavily on the Supreme Court’s verdict in NALSA v Union of India, the petitioner argued that unless transgender inmates were recognised, the guidelines passed by the Supreme Court to protect their rights could not be implemented.
ASG Sharma stated that NCRB has issued a communication informing that it intended to classify prisoners as male, female and transgenders from its report, Prison Statistics India – 2020 onwards.
Officials have been directed to prepare for collection of data accordingly, NCRB has said.
In view of the above decision, the PIL was disposed of.
