The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the Centre, Delhi Police and the Delhi government to take steps to formulate a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) governing the arrest, detention, search, interrogation and imprisonment of transgender persons.
The direction was issued in a petition filed by student Taaran Chandna, seeking directions to the Centre, Delhi Police and the Delhi government to formulate and implement an SOP for the arrest and search of a transgender person. Chandna further said that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, despite substantially revising the definition of a transgender person and the certification process, remains silent on police arrest and search protocols.
The arrest and personal search of transgender persons without any procedure for ascertaining, acknowledging or accommodating their gender identity, the petition said, constituted a direct, concrete and continuing violation of multiple fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution of India, as interpreted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court across decades of authoritative jurisprudence.
