The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (September 2, 2026) asked the Centre and city Police to take appropriate steps for the formulation of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on the arrest and detention of transgender persons.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.

K.

Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice to the Central Government, the police, as well as the Delhi government in a public interest litigation (PIL) by a law student and asked them to consider an advisory by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the issue.

Change in transgender law cannot take away rights already given, Supreme Court tells Centre The plea by Taaran Chandna said that while the Delhi Police has a standing order for the arrest of women and senior citizens, it is “wholly silent” on transgender persons.

The petitioner submitted that in May, the NHRC issued the ‘Advisory for Ensuring the Welfare of Transgender Persons, 2.0’ for the formulation of a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to govern the arrest, detention, search, interrogation and imprisonment of transgender persons.

However, no such SOP or guideline has been formed for Delhi, he said.

SC flags ‘risk’ of misuse in transgender self-identification debate “We call upon the Union of India, the Delhi Police and the State government to file their reply.

In the meantime, we direct that the advisory issued in May 2026 shall be considered and appropriate steps as permissible in law shall be taken,” the court said.

The court also asked authorities to file an affidavit detailing the steps taken by them in compliance with the advisory and listed the matter for hearing on November 18.

Mr.

Chandna, in the plea, said the SOP governing the arrest and personal search of transgender persons by Delhi Police was needed to protect their fundamental rights to bodily integrity, dignity, equality and non-discrimination guaranteed under the Constitution of India.

Centre fears ‘divergence of views’ among High Courts on new transgender law; asks SC to transfer cases to itself The “concrete and continuing harm” due to the “vacuum” can be seen when the police in May 2025 arrested three transgender persons in an FIR, the plea said.

It alleged that despite one of them possessing female genital anatomy and another holding a valid Certificate of Identity, all three were personally searched by a male police officer “without any enquiry into their gender identity, without seeking self-declaration, and without consent”.