In a relief to the transgender community, the State government on Tuesday told the High Court of Karnataka that it would delete the word “eunuchs” from Section 36(A) of the Karnataka Police Act, which gives powers to the police to “regulate eunuchs”.
However, the government said that it cannot do away with Section 36(A), but a suitable word would be inserted. A government counsel made submission in this regard before a Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Ravi Malimath during the hearing of a PIL, filed by Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum, seeking a direction from the court for declaring Section 36(A) as “unconstitutional”.
On an earlier occasion, the court had asked the government to take appropriate steps to remove discrimination in the provision against a particular section of the society. While granting six months time for the government to amend the law, the Bench orally told government counsel that the police should not harass transgenders, while also advising the transgenders not to harass the public.
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The contention of the petitioner was that Section 36(A) “declares eunuchs to be offenders” and such provision is violative of the constitutional right to equality granted to the third gender.