Plea before Punjab and Haryana High Court seeks separate toilets for Transgender prisoners

A Bench of Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji issued notice to the States of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh and posted the matter for hearing on July 29.

Ratna Singh

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently sought replies from the State governments of Punjab and Haryana, as well as the Union Territory of Chandigarh on a plea for separate toilets for transgender persons in prisons. [Sunpreet Singh v UOI & Ors]

A Bench of Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji issued notice and posted the matter for hearing on July 29.

“Keeping in view the issue involved, let State of Haryana and Union Territory, Chandigarh be also impleaded as respondents through Secretaries, Department of Home. Counsel for the petitioner shall file amended Memo of Parties. Keeping in view the above, let formal notice of motion be issued,” the order dated May 8 stated.

The plea was filed in light of the judgment by the Supreme Court in the case of National Legal Services Authority v Union of India, which affirmed that fundamental rights under the Constitution of India will be equally applicable to transgender persons.

During the hearing, the petitioner also referred to the Patna High Court judgment in the case of Law Foundation v State Of Bihar in which the Court had directed the Bihar government to ensure that guidelines issued by the Government of India and adopted for the State of Bihar in relation to housing the members of the transgender community in jails, shall be implemented in letter and spirit.

In August last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had introduced separate toilets in the High Court campus for transgender persons.

The development came about after advocate Maninderjit Singh wrote a letter to the High Court administration in 2021 advocating for the same.

Subsequently, he also sent a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud in 2022, requesting separate toilets for transgender persons in all judicial buildings and Constitutional courts across India.

The petitioner appeared in person.

Senior Advocate Dheeraj Jain, and government Advocate Shivani Khareedi appeared for the Union of India.

Additional Advocate General (AG) Saurav Khurana appeared for the State of Punjab.

Additional AG Deepak Balyan appeared for the State of Haryana.

Panel Counsel Sourabh Goel appeared for the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Courtesy : Bar and Bench

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