Overview

• The Delhi High Court issued notice to the Union Government on a petition seeking inclusion of transgender women and transgender children under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s sexual offences framework.
• The court appointed senior advocate N. Hariharan as amicus curiae to assist on criminal-law questions raised by the case.
• Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya indicated a prima facie view that expanding the definition of rape is a legislative task, citing core criminal-law principles on punishment only by defined law.
• Petitioner Dr. Chandresh Jain asks the court to read BNS Section 63 to cover transgender victims and challenges Section 18 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 as inadequate.
• The bench remarked that the 2019 Act’s Section 18 functions as a “toothless tiger” and listed the matter for further hearing in December.