From Protection to Policing: A Critical Study of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026 and its Interaction With Emerging Criminalization Trends in India

India is currently following the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026 which has proven to be controversial as compared to its predecessor, Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. This paper situates these laws against a history of marginalization and the Supreme Court’s NALSA (2014) recognition of gender self-identification. While the 2019 Act marked a rights based framework, recent amendments however suggest a shift toward increased regulation and criminalization of transgender lives. This paper discusses the above problem and three central questions. Firstly, whether the 2019 act with the subsequent Amendment Act, 2026 secure substantive protection. Secondly, does the current Amendment Act, 2026 shift the Transgender Persons to subjects of ‘Policing’ or ‘Protection and Rights’? Thirdly, how does the enacted criminal offences under the Amendment Act, 2026 transform support networks into potentially criminal activities? This paper also discusses some historical parallels between Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026 and the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 and explores its colonial roots. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate whether the Amendment Act, 2026 protects the constitutional rights of transgender persons. The research methodology used in this paper is doctrinal and comparative in nature.