People from the transgender community will now get the right to inherit agricultural land in Uttar Pradesh after the state cabinet cleared an amendment to the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code of 2006.
According to this amendment, people from the transgender community will be recognised as members of a landowner’s family and will have an equal right to inherit agricultural property.
A draft proposal for the law was submitted by the State Law Commission to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in March 2019.
Commission chairperson Justice AN Mittal had pointed out that all inheritance laws mention ‘sons’, ‘daughters’, ‘married’, ‘unmarried’ and ‘widow’ which kept third gender children out of the purview of the law, who, as it is, face massive social boycott despite laws to protect their interests.
According to the official spokesman, in the new Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code (Amendment) Act, 2020, changes have been made to section 4(10), 108 (2), 109 and 110 to include people of the third gender as members of the landowner’s family to give them succession and physical rights over the property.
The transgender people are recognised as the ‘third gender’ by the Supreme Court.