Laws needed for inheritance rights of transgender people

A legal framework must be established so that people of the transgender (hijra) community can inherit family property and get government jobs under a quota, said speakers at a seminar yesterday.

The state must ensure that the hijra community enjoys all basic rights -- accommodation, education, and medical treatment -- without discrimination, they added.

The seminar titled "Recognition of Hijra community as Third Gender and Future Doings" organised by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Bandhu Social Welfare Society at Bangla Academy in the capital.

Addressing the programme as the chief guest, Suranjit Sengupta, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the law ministry, said nowhere in the constitution is it stated that people of the transgender community cannot get family property.

He further said that it is not banned in any religion either. "So it is possible to ensure their rights to inheriting family property," he added.
NHRC Chairman Prof Mizanur Rahman said his organisation would continue mounting pressure on the government to enact a law so that people of the hijra community do not face any discrimination as citizens. 

The organisers presented crests to two people of the hijra community -- Labonya and Nadi -- for their role in catching two of the killers of blogger Oyasiqur Rahman Babu. 

Dhaka University teacher Robayet Ferdous presented a keynote paper on the hijra community's present condition and future challenges in the country. Advocate Tarana Halim, among others, spoke.