Rajasthan High Court Revises Transgender Rights Judgment

The India===Rajasthan High Court revised its March 30 judgment concerning the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026. The court removed critical observations from an epilogue that had expressed concern over the amendment's impact on the right to self-identify gender, stating these observations were 'neither intended nor necessary.' The original judgment had challenged a 2023 state notification placing transgender persons in the Other Backward Class category without a distinct reservation framework. While the critical remarks were deleted, the court reaffirmed the constitutional right to self-identify one's gender and maintained its substantive directions, including granting 3% additional weightage in marks to transgender candidates in public employment and educational admissions, and forming a committee to recommend a reservation framework. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, was passed by the India===Lok Sabha and India===Rajya Sabha and received presidential assent on March 30.