The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday sought an action-taken report (ATR) from the Secretary of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on the issues of denial of rights to the transgenders including their voting rights.
The NHRC passed the order acting on a petition filed by lawyer and human rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
Citing the example of Odisha where only around 17 per cent of transgenders’ population features in the electoral list, the petitioner stated that as per the State Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) constituency-wise electorate information, the highest number of 560 third gender voters is in Khordha district followed by 275 in Balangir, 273 in Ganjam and 265 in Cuttack.
The number of transgender voters among the total population of voters being so low, the government adopts a lackadaisical and negligent attitude in taking up the issues relating to the transgender community, the petitioner alleged.
The NHRC sought for the ATR from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment within a period of six weeks. After receiving the report from the authorities, the matte would be decided by a Full Bench of the NHRC, post issuance process.
