Mugil Anbu Vasantha, a transgender activist and petitioner in a historic Karnataka High Court case (Mugil Anbu Vasantha vs The State of Karnataka), has made an open representation to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, requesting him to take immediate action to protect transgender persons' constitutional rights.
This appeal follows a high court order requiring the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) to give reservations and a fee waiver for transgender students, which the petitioner argues the university is yet to implement.
Mugil's petition came from their denial of admission to NLSIU's third-year LLB programme in 2023, despite clearing the entrance exam, The Mooknayak reports.
According to them, the university allegedly withheld rank lists, refused financial aid, and contested their admittance in court. A provisional entry was granted in 2023 under an interim order, but only on the condition of full fee payment, which Mugil deemed discriminatory.
In its final ruling dated December 16, 2024, the high court ruled in favour of Mugil, ordering NLSIU to introduce 0.5 per cent interim reservations for transgender people with a fee waiver.
The court also instructed the Karnataka government to enforce these regulations, while pushing the university to seek grants to support fee waivers.
However, Mugil alleges that NLSIU has yet to issue clear steps for implementing the reservations and has remained quiet on the matter for two weeks since the order.
In their petition, they also highlight several systemic roadblocks for trans persons to access education due to a lack of state support and urge the Chief Minister’s intervention in ensuring that the university implements the high court’s order.
They also describe how a lack of political will to safeguard trans rights and horizontal reservations across party lines only contributed to the neglect of the transgender community.
“The ground floor of NLSIU, has a wall that has been muraled with the art of Aravani Art Project – made up of transgender persons – that reads 'Equality and Pride'. How long will transgender people be used to add colour to walls, libraries, lives and everchanging political flags of people while being denied our collective fundamental rights?", they questioned.
