The Hindu editorial on 21/08/2025 welcomes the Manipur High Court’s order in the Beoncy Laishram case as a positive step for the transgender community. It argues that gender identity recognition must not be trapped in procedural hurdles, a plight faced by many transgender individuals who must spend disproportionate time and energy fighting bureaucratic apathy to claim their rights.
Despite a clear legal framework—including Articles 14 and 21, the Supreme Court's NALSA judgment (which affirmed self-determination and welfare rights), and the Transgender Persons Act of 2019 (which codified the right to self-identification)—university authorities refused to update Dr. Laishram's records. They failed to embrace the spirit of the law, instead demanding a frustrating, cascading series of approvals starting with her earliest certificates. The editorial concludes that beyond court orders, true change requires deep institutional and cultural reform within the bureaucracy to recognize gender as a lived reality.
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