The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Centre’s reply on a PIL seeking equal protection in law to transgender people on the grounds that there was no penal provision which protects them from offences of sexual assault. A Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said it was a “good case” which needed hearing.
The Bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, asked senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing petitioner lawyer Reepak Kansal, to file details of cases where the court had passed orders in the absence of laws to deal with issues.
In a hearing conducted via video conferencing, the bench referred to the framing of the Vishaka guidelines to deal with sexual harassment of women at work places and the decriminalisation of consensual gay sex by the apex court in the absence of laws. Singh said he would be filing such details as asked by the court.