Petition for Reservation of seats in Public Transport for Transgender Persons
Sowmya Gupta vs Department of Delhi Trasport Cooperation and Anr. | Delhi High Court | Status: Disposed | |
Transgender Persons have borne the brunt of bias, discrimination and transphobia persisting in society at large. This becomes increasingly acute when transgender persons attempt to use public transport. There is a constant threat of abuse—sexual, physical and mental, that transgender persons are subject to everytime they step inside a bus. As a community transgender persons are continuously ridiculed and humiliated in buses along with people at large actively obstructing us from entering buses. Because of these reasons, most transgender persons are forced to use private transport in the manner of autos or cabs. This is a completely unnecessary and unwanted expense that transgender persons are regularly forced to incur, in fear of a threat to their life.
Sowmya Gupta, an activist who has fought extensively for rights of transgender persons, PLHIV persons and a number of issues sent a representation letter to the Department of Delhi Transport Cooperation (DTDC) and Delhi Metro Rail Cooperation (DMRC) detailing the issues faced by transgender persons.
In the event of a lack of response from DTDC and DMRC for more than two weeks, SLIC filed a case in the Delhi High Court for reservation of seats in public transport.