The amendments to the 2019 Act, cleared by Parliament in March, redefine who qualifies as a transgender person. They remove transgender persons’ right to a self-perceived gender identity. The law makes medical evaluation and certification mandatory for legal gender recognition. Transgender cards issued by the government cannot be invalidated as they are an essential identity document, the petitioners said. The verdict had formally created the “ third gender ” category for transgender persons that recognised them as a socially and economically backward class.