PASIGHAT, Jul 17: The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), East Siang District under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority on the occasion of International Day of Justice organized a free legal awareness programme for the transgender community on Monday. The awareness programme was an initiative to create legal awareness of the rights of transgender people and to propagate gender equality. The legal awareness programme was successfully conducted by the retainer lawyer Sunny Tayeng, Project Assistant Mum Dai and PLV Gegul Damin and the event saw participation from the transgender community of East Siang District.
Chairman DLSA, East Siang cum District and Session Judge (DSJ), Tageng Padoh in his address said that society is evolving and changing. He said that it is a fact that there are three genders in our society and that social acceptance should be given to the third gender as well. Along with acceptance, the attitude and reaction of society is also important. One should not fear to come out and express oneself and profess one’s identity boldly and fearlessly in society with pride, he added.
Imna Sangla Imsong, Assistant Professor, SIPE Law College Dibrugarh spoke and encouraged the members of the third gender and said that they should never feel discouraged. She said that there always has been specific victimization of women, children and people from underprivileged communities despite being careful, following societal norms-just by the virtue of one’s class, gender identification-one becomes a victim. Imsong stated that to live a dignified life cooperation and support of police, societies, bodies like DLSAs is required. She also urged the participants to organize more seminars and awareness programmes to create awareness among the general public.
The first session of the awareness programme was taken by Advocate Ms Nyame Dabi who spoke on the topic of rights of transgender persons, the Transgender Protection Act, 2019 and the NALSA versus Union India judgment. Advocate Dabi informed the participants that the Apex Court of our country has said that there should not be any discrimination on the basis of gender and which is also enshrined in the article 15 of the Constitution of India. She said that after passage of the landmark judgment NALSA V. Union of India, the Transgender Persons Act was passed in 2019 and the Act guarantees the right of education, job opportunities, residence, reservation etc. for transgender persons and that nobody can dictate a person’s lifestyle and their way of dressing. She further said that choosing and expressing one’s gender is a fundamental right. According to her problems faced by the transgender community is a global human rights issue.
The second session was taken by Advocate Ms Sunny Tayeng on the Free Legal Aid under the The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. She informed the participants of the various schemes and provisions available under the Act like the Arunachal Pradesh victim compensation scheme of 2011 wherein victims of accidents, death, acid attack,  
sexual assault etc. can avail compensation and free legal aid available to them under section 12 of the Act. She provided awareness on the procedure of filing an FIR, arrest, detention and bail. She addressed the problems faced by the community like getting transgender certificate, adhaar card, ration card, etc. 
During the interactive session the participants informed that they have not availed the transgender certificate from the District Magistrate and were not aware of the provisions available under the Transgender Persons Act of 2019. The DLSA retainer Advocate Sunny Tayeng undertook the responsibility to file a representation to the District Magistrate for the implementation of various provisions of the Transgender Persons Act, 2019. DIPRO

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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