SC notice to Centre on plea against guidelines excluding gay, transgenders from being blood donors
New Delhi, Mar 5: The Supreme Court Friday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea challenging the 2017 guidelines excluding transgenders, men having sex with men and female sex workers from being blood donors.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde agreed to hear the plea and issued notices to the Centre, the National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) seeking their responses on the plea filed by a transgender activist from Manipur.
Issue notice, said the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
The plea has also sought striking down of the clause of general criteria under blood donor selection criteria of the guidelines for blood donor selection and blood donor referral, 2017 to the extent it permanently defers transgenders, men having sex with men and female sex workers from being blood donors on account of being at risk of HIV infection.
The exclusion of transgender persons, men having sex with men and female sex workers from being blood donors and permanently prohibiting them from donating blood solely on the basis of their gender identity and sexual orientation is completely arbitrary, unreasonable and discriminatory and also unscientific, said the plea, filed through advocate Anindita Pujari.
It said that all blood units collected from donors are tested for infectious diseases including Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS and hence, permanently excluding them from donating blood and categorizing them as high-risk only on the basis of their gender identity and sexual orientation is violative of their right to be treated equally as other blood donors.
The plea claimed that the prohibition is due to assumptions based on negative stereotypes which amounts to discrimination and these persons are denied equal dignity under Article 14 of the Constitution as they are deemed less worthy and subordinate in social participation and healthcare.
It said there is more need for blood and plasma donations as blood supplies have come under pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Given the COVID-19 crisis, where blood transfusions are needed more than ever for emergency and elective surgeries and treatments, it is more critical than ever for members of the transgender community to rely on the generosity of their family and community members to meet the demands for getting life-saving blood to those affected by the pandemic, the plea said.
It alleged that transgender persons, gay and bisexual men who have been requesting to donate blood during the pandemic when their community and family members needed blood for emergency medical treatment were refused due to the permanent deferral under the impugned guidelines.
It claimed these guidelines are stigmatizing as they are neither based on how HIV transmissions actually works nor are they based on actual risk involved in specific activities but are based only on the identities of donors.
It said during 1980s when the HIV/AIDS outbreak occurred, in many countries such similar lifetime ban on blood donations on transgenders persons and men who had sex with men was implemented.
However, it was due to an outdated policy based on stigma and stereotype associated with transgender persons, men having sex with men and sex workers, the plea said.
Now such complete bans have been removed in many countries and now guidelines internationally on blood donation do not have such permanent bans based on identity, it said.
Many countries have revised their policies to not make deferrals identity based, but based on either a three-month or 45-day deferral from the last high-risk sexual contact, the plea said.
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Uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed votes for NDA: Himanta
Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday asserted that his government's "uncompromising stand" in taking steps against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed people in favour of the BJP-led NDA in this year's assembly elections, resulting in the alliance securing a two-thirds majority.
He maintained that the NDA's win was a victory for the Assamese indigenous people and affirmed continuing developmental work in the state.
Addressing a press conference, Sarma said, "The double-engine government and unprecedented development the state witnessed in the last five years are among the main reasons for our victory."
"We had assured of securing the Assamese 'jati' (community) and took steps to deliver it. Assam progressed in the cultural and economic sectors. Our uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims also had an impact," he said.
The NDA swept to a third successive term in the state by securing 102 seats in the 126-member state assembly. The BJP won 82 seats, while its allies AGP and Bodoland People's Front bagged 10 each.
On Sarma predicting nearly exact numbers for the alliance before the results, he said the assessment was based on his connect with the people.
"I visited every assembly segment thrice before elections. I have a good mass connect system, which helped in my assessment," he said.
Sarma claimed that recommendations of the Justice (retd) Biplab Sharma committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which deals with constitutional safeguards for the indigenous Assamese population, were implemented by his government.
"It was because of it that the Assamese people won yesterday. It was not just a BJP victory," he asserted.
The CM claimed the NDA secured the support of all sections of people, including Gen Z, which was evident in the young faces fielded by the BJP emerging victorious.
He dismissed the charge that the BJP has an "outsider" among its MLAs, referring to Guwahati Central legislator-elect Vijay Gupta.
"Vijay Gupta is an Assamese. If he is a Bihari, we (ancestors) also came from Kannauj. We all have come from different parts. Mongoloids came from outside, Aryans came from outside. This outsider narrative has been created by you all (media)," Sarma said.
On the Congress' poor poll performance, he maintained that there were very few people in the opposition party who understood the sentiments of the Assamese people.
Otherwise, the Congress would not have brought singer Zubeen Garg's name in its manifesto or levied allegations against an Assamese woman, Sarma added, referring to the opposition party's charges of multiple passports and undisclosed foreign investments of his wife.
The CM also maintained that Raijor Dal could have won four-five seats had it not joined hands with the Congress.
The Congress and Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal were part of a six-party opposition alliance that fought the elections together. Congress won 19 seats and Raijor Dal two, with the other allies drawing a blank.
"If Akhil Gogoi had not made the mistake, Sherman Ali Ahmed would have been his MLA today," Sarma said, referring to the expelled Congress leader who won as a TMC candidate after Raijor Dal refused him a ticket owing to the alliance.
On Gogoi being the only opposition MLA to win from a Hindu-majority seat, Sarma said, "It is the people of Sibsagar who decided who will represent them. On my part, it was the only Hindu majority seat where I didn't go to campaign."
"Akhil Gogoi should be kept in the assembly, else he will create chaos on the streets with his protests," Sarma said.
He also claimed that Gogoi had failed to make a single serious speech in the assembly during his first tenure as MLA and dubbed the Raijor Dal president a "comic relief" when the proceedings get dull.
