Bengaluru
The Anita Humanitarian Foundation, led by Dr. Anita Prasad, has moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the State Government’s ongoing Gender Minority Survey, calling it unconstitutional and deeply intrusive.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) contends that the survey—launched across 31 districts and requiring gender minorities to register at government hospitals or local committees—subjects participants to humiliating procedures, including medical checks, strip verification, and invasive questioning. Though the government describes it as a “socio-economic and educational survey,” the Foundation argues that these practices violate the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which guarantees the right to self-identification without medical scrutiny.
According to the petition, the survey excludes large sections of the community such as transmen, non-binary, and gender-fluid persons, focusing primarily on transwomen. It also duplicates the central Transgender ID Card system, raising fears of data misuse, privacy breaches, and misuse of public funds.
“This is not about opposing welfare. It is about opposing illegality. Welfare must come through dignity, not humiliation,” Dr. Prasad said, urging a rights-based approach instead of politically motivated data collection.
The Foundation seeks immediate quashing of the survey, destruction of collected data, compensation for those subjected to forced examinations, and judicially supervised guidelines for future welfare measures.
This PIL is the first legal challenge to Karnataka’s gender survey and aims to set a precedent for safeguarding the dignity and constitutional rights of transgender and gender-diverse individuals across India.