Only a few transgenders are availing themselves of free legal aid to get benefits available to them in Karnataka or at the national level, said a recent report prepared by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA).
Only 46 transgenders took the assistance of legal services authorities in Karnataka between April 2016 and October 2021, the report stated while pointing out that only 1,664 transgenders availed free legal aid at the national level during the same period.
“It is only seen that they are fighting at their own levels with various departments for gaining access to ration cards, identity cards and voter ID’s,” stated the report.
The statistical data, the report stated, proves that very minimal number of cases are filed by transgender community or their access to justice is very minimal. The report also took note of the scenario that most of the cases are filed against transgender persons as they are seen as “perpetrators of crime.”
By taking note of these aspects, the Gender Justice Committee of the KSLSA, headed by A.N. Venugopala Gowda, a former judge of the High Court of Karnataka, has now come out with a new scheme to help transgender community to access and achieve justice.
The proposed KSLSA (Legal Aid and Services to the Transgender Community) Scheme, 2022 will have the objectives like institutionalising the essential legal services for transgender community, mobilising government machinery to identify and registering all transgender persons.
The scheme also aims to create a list of genuine advocates who have social concern so that they do not take advantage of the situation of the transgender person to further exploit them, the report said.
The report states that the new scheme would offer free legal aid in the courts through the State, district and taluk level legal services authorities and committees to the transgender persons irrespective of their income, if they are seeking redress against discrimination and violence.
As a policy of inclusion, all the legal services institutions are encouraged to appoint the transgender persons as Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs) if they are found suitable, the report pointed out.
