The withdrawal follows protests from transgender and disability rights groups, who criticized the new guidelines for MBBS students, describing them as discriminatory and biased against transgender and disabled individuals. The groups have condemned the guidelines as promoting ableist and transphobic perspectives in medical education.
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Why were there calls for revision?
The new Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) guidelines for the 2024-25 academic session have faced calls for revision because they fail to align with global standards and violate recent legal precedents in India. Despite the intention to update the MBBS curriculum to be globally relevant, the guidelines reintroduce outdated terms like sodomy, lesbianism, and transvestism as sexual offenses. This move reverses the 2022 Madras High Court order that removed such classifications. The guidelines are seen as regressive, ignoring the decriminalization of same-sex relations by the Supreme Court in 2018 and contradicting the progressive stance that India has taken on LGBTQ+ rights.
Problematic Elements of the Guidelines: Legal and Ethical Concerns
The CBME guidelines have been found problematic due to their regressive classification of certain sexual orientations and identities as “unnatural” sexual offenses. This contradicts the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that decriminalized same-sex relations by repealing Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Moreover, the guidelines classify cross-dressing as a “perversion,” grouping it with serious offenses such as voyeurism and necrophilia. These classifications ignore recent judicial precedents that protect LGBTQ+ rights and perpetuate harmful stereotypes, thereby reflecting a significant departure from inclusive and progressive legal standards.
Impact of the Guidelines on Queer Community Rights in Medical Education
The 2024 CBME guidelines have been criticized for failing to respect and uphold the rights of the queer community in medical education. By labeling same-sex relations and cross-dressing as offenses and perversions, the guidelines violate the principles established by the Supreme Court, which decriminalized same-sex relations and recognized transgender individuals as a distinct third gender entitled to protection and social welfare benefits. This approach not only disregards the court’s rulings but also undermines the right to gender self-identification upheld by the Bombay High Court in 2021, perpetuating discriminatory practices that hinder inclusivity in medical education.