The Supreme Court has issued notice on a writ petition challenging the constitutional validity of the proviso to Section 2(k) of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, and directed that the matter be tagged with the pending challenge to the legislation.

The petition has been filed by Ankan Biswas, a practising advocate enrolled with the Bar Council of West Bengal and one of the few transgender advocates empanelled with the West Bengal State Legal Services Authority. Assigned female at birth, the petitioner identifies as a trans-masculine person and was issued a Transgender Identity Card under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 in 2023.

Argued by Advocate Pritthish Roy, the petition does not challenge the entire definition of “transgender person” under Section 2(k). Instead, it specifically assails the proviso, which states that the definition shall not include, nor shall ever have included, “persons with different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities.” The petitioner contends that the proviso reflects Parliament’s intent to retrospectively exclude and de-recognise persons who had already obtained legal recognition as transgender persons based on self-identification under the 2019 Act and the 2020 Rules.

According to the plea, the impugned proviso undermines the Supreme Court’s decision in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (NALSA), which recognised self-identification of gender as an intrinsic facet of dignity, autonomy and personal liberty. It argues that the amendment is arbitrary, exclusionary and retrogressive, violating Articles 14, 15, 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g), and 21 of the Constitution.