Societies grappling to accept those who do not fit into the binary of man or woman, says NHRC chief

Societies all over the world are grappling to accept that there are human beings who do not fit into the binary of man or woman, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Justice (retd.) V. Ramasubramanian said on Thursday (September 4, 2025).

Addressing a national conference on transgender rights in Delhi, the NHRC chief added that it is due to the stigma attached to their gender identity that transpeople experience widespread discrimination in the health sector, schools, employment and housing, as well as in accessing toilets.

Quoting the data from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the NHRC chief stated that millions of transpersons in all regions experience rejection, harassment and physical violence because they do not conform to prevailing gender norms. He also cited the Trans Murder Monitoring report, a research project of TGEU (Trans Europe and Central Asia), which tracks the murders of trans and gender diverse people globally.

“According to its report released in 2024, there were 350 reported murders during the period from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024, of which 12 happened in India. The report also recorded 5,000 cases of such murders since 2008. This report was released on the occasion of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is observed annually on November 20, in the memory of those who have been “murdered as a result of transphobia,” said Justice Ramasubramanian.

Citing Hindu religious books, the NHRC chief said that the Upanishads say that every unit of creation is God’s manifestation. He questioned how can some units of creation be discriminated against by others.

“Can one unit of creation be considered inferior to others and can any of such creations be treated with contempt?” he asked, stressing that the country cannot grow unless transpersons, whose population is estimated at 4.88 lakh in India as per the 2011 Census, are left out of the mainstream.

Hailing India for being far ahead of several other countries in recognising the rights of transpersons, the NHRC chief gave credit for the same to the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary.

“These three pillars of democracy have come together, to transform the philosophy of the Upanishads into a constitutional philosophy and then to translate the constitutional philosophy into a parliamentary enactment,” he added.