The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India is a landmark Supreme Court judgment delivered on April 15, 2014, which formally recognised transgender persons as the "third gender" in India. The case originated from a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2012 by the statutory body NALSA to address the systemic discrimination and denial of fundamental rights faced by transgender individuals due to the absence of legal recognition.
The core ratio decidendi of the judgment is that transgender persons have the constitutional right to self-identify their gender, and the State's failure to recognise this identity violates Articles 14, 15, 16, 19(1)(a), and 21 of the Constitution. The Court held that the term "sex" in Articles 15 and 16 must be interpreted broadly to include gender identity and not be limited to biological attributes.
The judgment mandated that the government must grant legal recognition to the "third gender" and allow individuals to self-identify their gender as male, female, or third gender without requiring medical or surgical intervention. Furthermore, the Court directed the government to treat transgender persons as a Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC), making them eligible for reservations in education and public employment under Article 15(4).
This judgment led to the enactment of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which prohibits discrimination against transgender persons. However, the 2019 Act was criticised for diluting the NALSA principle of self-identification by requiring a certificate of identity from a District Magistrate, a provision seen as inconsistent with the judgment's emphasis on personal autonomy. The judicial standard of the right to self-identification, grounded in dignity and autonomy, remains the core legacy of the NALSA v. Union of India judgment.