Plea In Supreme Court Seeks Separate Legal Identity, Protection For Intersex Persons

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Union on a public interest litigation seeking separate legal identity and protective safeguards for persons born with congenital variations in sex characteristics (intersex persons).

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana passed the order, after hearing petitioner-in-person Shamshravish Rein.

The petitioner, a practicing advocate at the Supreme Court, filed the present PIL seeking a declaration that persons born with congenital variations in sex characteristics constitute a distinct and identifiable class "for the limited purpose of ensuring targeted constitutional protection and appropriate legal safeguards", without affecting the rights of transgender persons.

She prays for a direction to the Union to frame necessary statutory guidelines within 6 months and constitute a National Medical Protocol Committee for Intersex Care within 3 months. The petitioner further seeks an immediate prohibition at pan-India level on any medically unnecessary or irreversible surgical or hormonal intervention on intersex infants and children until they become capable of giving informed consent.

The petitioner also seeks consequent amendments in the passport, Aadhaar, educational, employment and birth registration documentation rules, as well as a reservation framework in education and public employment (as available for other protected classes). Another relief sought is for the Union to suggest clarificatory measures to ensure that intersex persons are not excluded from inheritance and succession frameworks.

The petitioner asserts that she does not seek to prejudice any of the rights already available to transgender persons in law. Rather, she seeks independent safeguards for intersex persons and a clarificatory distinction between gender identity variance and congenital biological intersex condition. "Intersex status is a congenital biological condition...it creates unique medical, legal and social vulnerabilities. It requires targeted constitutional safeguards distinct in nature", the plea states.

It is alleged that intersex persons in India continuously face non-consensual "normalization" surgeries in infancy, social abandonment and stigma, exclusion in inheritance and lack of structured reservation.

The petitioner highlights that at the time of birth, due to ambiguous genitalia, chromosomal patterns, or other intersex conditions, intersex persons are neither distinctly identifiable as a male nor as a female. In accordance with Articles 14, 15 and 21, the petitioner says, it is imperative for such persons to be accorded distinct legal recognition and affirmative support mechanisms so that their rights are protected from the very moment of birth.

"Intersex persons are not "other." They are not anomaly. They are not deviation. They are citizens entitled to full constitutional dignity. Recognition must be precise. Protection must be specific and Equality must be meaningful."

Case Title: SHAMSHRAVISH REIN Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 764/2026