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Jane Kaushik vs. Union of India & Ors.

Not available · 2025 INSC 1248Decided 17 Oct 2025
Not available
Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice R. Mahadevan

Background

The petitioner, Ms. Jane Kaushik, a transgender woman, approached the Supreme Court directly under Article 32 alleging discrimination and humiliation that led to her termination from two private schools within a year. At the first school, she alleges she was subjected to name-calling and harassment by colleagues and students within eight days of joining, and was forced to resign after her transgender identity became known, with the school later citing a defamation notice against her when the matter was reported in the press. She contended that existing laws and institutions provided no effective mechanism to redress such discrimination.

Decision Breakdown

The Court examined the scope of "reasonable accommodation" for transgender persons under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and surveyed comparative jurisprudence from Canada, the United States, and the EU on workplace accommodation and disability/gender-identity discrimination. It found systemic gaps in the redressal mechanisms available to transgender persons facing employment discrimination and directed the Union of India, concerned ministries, and the two schools to pay compensation to the petitioner (Rs. 50,000 each from three central respondents and the second school) for the lack of adequate grievance redressal. The Court further directed constitution of an Advisory Committee, funded initially by a Rs. 10 lakh deposit from the Union, to study gaps in the 2019 Act and Rules and recommend a policy framework on reasonable accommodation, grievance redressal, gender/name-change procedures, and inclusive medical care for transgender persons, with a continuing mandamus to monitor compliance.

Lesson Learnt

Transgender persons facing workplace discrimination can invoke the Supreme Court's writ jurisdiction directly, and courts are willing to use structural remedies (expert committees, continuing mandamus) rather than just compensating an individual, when statutory protections are found inadequate in practice.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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