Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot today introduced the Transgender Person (protection of rights) bill 2016 in Lok Sabha. Union Cabinet had, on Wednesday, approved the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016. The bill has provisions for stringent punishment, including imprisonment up to two years, for offences against them.<br/><br/>Under the bill, forcing a transgender to leave a village or residence, forcibly removing their clothes and parading them naked, or inciting them to beg or do similar forms of bonded labour, will be treated as atrocities and violence against them. According to the 2011 Census, India has 6 lakh people belonging to the transgender community.