The Alladi Memorial Trust, in collaboration with the School of Social Sciences of the University of Hyderabad organised the Alladi Memorial Lecture on “Transforming Rights: The Contested Terrain of Transgender Equality in India” delivered by Ms. Jayna Kothari, Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of India and Co-Founder, Centre for Law and Policy Research on 9 October 2026 at the CV Raman Auditorium, University of Hyderabad. The lecture was chaired by Dr N. Vasanthi, Professor of Law and Registrar, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.
The Guest Speaker, Ms. Jayna Kothari, has argued several important constitutional cases in the Supreme Court, including the constitutional challenges to Section 377 and adultery which were both decriminalized. She also argued the Independent Thought case in which the Supreme Court recognized child marital rape as a criminal offence and fought for marriage equality for all persons in Supriyo v. Union of India. Among other publications, her book “Transforming Rights: How the Law Shapes Transgender Lives, Identity and Community” an edited collection, was published in 2026.
The programme commenced with welcome remarks by Prof. K. Suneetha Rani, Dean, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad, who also introduced the Chair. This was followed by remarks made by the Chairperson, The Alladi Memorial Trust, Prof. Alladi Uma, who introduced the Trust, the Lecture Series, and the guest Speaker. She noted that the Trust was founded in 1983 by Justice Alladi Kuppuswami, former Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, to mark his father, Dr. Alladi Krishnaswami’s birth centenary. Dr. Alladi Krishnaswami was a key member of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India. She highlighted that the lecture series aimed to promote public understanding of the Indian Constitution, legal debates, and human rights. The lectures were shifted from the centre of the city to the University in an attempt to reach out to young minds.
Subsequently, the Guest Speaker, Ms. Jayna Kothari, was invited by the Chair to garland the portrait of Dr. Alladi Krishnaswami and deliver the Alladi Memorial Lecture.
In her lecture, Ms. Kothari mapped out the development of transgender equality in India over the last 10 years, as well as the inconsistencies in the progress and the roll-back on the gains made. She noted that the recognition of trans rights in India in the last decade has been ground-breaking. Tracing the development of the law, from the PIL filed by NALSA in 2014 to the landmark 2014 Supreme Court judgement, which went beyond the language of entitlements and provided a definition for “Transgender,” and expanded the notion of sex under Article 15 of the Constitution to include gender and gender identity, she went on to look at subsequent cases and landmark judgements by the High Courts and Supreme Court of India that paved the path towards strengthening rights of transgender persons, such as anti-discrimination, marriage equality in a heretosexual marriage, and so on. She noted that the recent 2026 amendment took away the very rights that were progressively recognised by the Courts in the last decade, wherein the choice is taken away from the individual and placed in the power of the State. She remarked that cases pertaining to transgender rights place a central role in the broader understanding of equality within the Constitution and reflect constitutional hope.
The lecture was listened to with rapt attention by a hall comprising students, scholars, faculty across disciplines and schools as well as experts from the civil society. It was followed by the Chair’s reflections on the civil, political, social and economic rights of Transgender persons. The Chair opened the floor to a lively discussion moderated by her. The Speaker answered various questions on the lecture from the audience.
The programme concluded with Professor Uma presenting mementos to the Chair and the Guest Speaker , and delivering the Vote of Thanks.
- Report prepared by Abhiruchi Chatterjee, Research Scholar, Centre for Women’s Studies