REPORTABLE 2025 INSC 1248 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 1405 OF 2023 JANE KAUSHIK …PETITIONER VERSUS UNION OF INDIA & ORS. …RESPONDENTS

J U D G M E N T

CHANDRESH Date: 2025.10.18 Reason:

J.B. PARDIWALA & R. MAHADEVAN, JJ. , For the convenience of exposition, this judgment is divided into the following parts: - INDEX A. FACTUAL MATRIX ...................................................................................... 4 B. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE PARTIES. ................................ 16 I. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER. ..................................... 16 II. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT NO. 5 (“THE FIRST SCHOOL”). ................................................................................................... 22 III. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT NO. 4 (“THE SECOND SCHOOL”). ................................................................................................... 23 C. ISSUES FOR DETERMINATION ............................................................ 24 D. ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................... 25 I. OPENING REMARKS ................................................................................... 25 II. RETHINKING REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE 2019 ACT. ............................................................................................. 34 a. Evolution of Canadian Jurisprudence. ...................................................... 44 b. A Reading of Reasonable Accommodation for Gender Dysphoria in the United States of America .......................................................................... 45 c. EU on Reasonable Accommodation. ......................................................... 48 III. ADDRESSING OMISSION IN DISCRIMINATION LAW ............................. 50 a. A Four-Dimensional Approach to Address Substantial Equality: Situating ‘Discrimination’ in Omissive Discrimination. ........................................ 51 i. Redressing disadvantage. ...................................................................... 53 ii. Addressing stigma and stereotypes. ...................................................... 70 iii. Enhancement of voice and participation. .............................................. 82 iv. Accommodating Difference to Achieve Structural Changes. ............... 99 b. Omission by Legislature resulting in violation of the Right against Discrimination. ....................................................................................... 101 IV. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK AND MANIFESTATION OF HORIZONTAL APPLICATION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. ........................................... 111 a. Indirect Horizontal Application by the Means of the 2019 Act. ............ 111 b. The Statutory Framework at Play .......................................................... 114 c. The Discrimination Faced by the Petitioner at the end of the First School and the Second School. ............................................................................ 123 V. SHORTCOMINGS OF THE 2019 ACT AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE LETHARGY. ................................................................................................ 146 a. Problems Faced by the Transgender Community in Day-to-Day Life. .. 147 i. Surveillance and Hyper-Vigilance. ..................................................... 148 ii. Discrimination in Employment and Professional Spaces. .................. 151 iii. Practical Denial of Legal Recognition and Identity Documentation . 152 iv. Exclusion from Educational Institutions. ........................................... 157 v. Social and Political Exclusion ............................................................. 157 vi. Safety, Protection and Social Prejudice .............................................. 158 E. SOME MEANINGFUL SUGGESTIONS .............................................. 159