The Karnataka High Court has issued an interim order restraining the state government and survey personnel from conducting any invasive identification procedures, including strip searches, during the ongoing transgender survey. The decision aims to safeguard the dignity, privacy, and constitutional rights of transgender individuals while ensuring that the survey is conducted in a lawful and respectful manner. A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha, emphasized that participation in the survey must be entirely voluntary and that all procedures should respect the autonomy and personal dignity of the respondents.
The court observed that the state has an obligation to collect data for administrative and welfare purposes but cannot do so in a manner that violates fundamental rights. The ruling highlights that transgender persons, as a marginalized community, require special protection against procedures that may be humiliating, intrusive, or degrading. The bench underscored that any collection of personal or identifying information must be handled with strict confidentiality to prevent misuse or unauthorized dissemination of sensitive data.
The survey, which commenced in mid-September, seeks to collect demographic and social data about transgender individuals in the state. However, concerns were raised that some procedures proposed by the authorities could involve physical exposure, effectively amounting to a strip search. The court’s interim order explicitly prohibits such methods and directs the authorities to adopt non-intrusive, privacy-respecting alternatives for verification or data collection.
This ruling reinforces the judiciary’s commitment to protecting the rights and dignity of vulnerable populations while balancing the state’s administrative requirements. By ensuring that government initiatives are conducted ethically and lawfully, the court has provided clear guidance that the rights of transgender individuals cannot be compromised, even in the pursuit of data collection for policy or welfare measures. The interim order remains in force until further directions from the court.
0 Comments
Thank you for your response. It will help us to improve in the future.