As of 1 January 2024, India’s police services comprised only 15 trans officials, shows data from the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), the national body responsible for police research, training, and modernisation. For context, the total number of police officials at that point was 21.6 lakh, of which 2.7 lakh officials were women.
The 15 trans police officials were clustered around just three states—Chhattisgarh employed 13, while Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan employed one each. All but one of these officials worked with the civil police, responsible for issues of daily law and order as well as routine crimes.
The BPRD started tracking information on trans police officials in 2022. So far, the bureau has published this information for two years—data compiled as of 1 January, 2024, released in its 2025 report; and data collated as of 1 January 2023, published in its 2024 report. The same three states accounted for all trans police officials across both years.
The data indicates an overall decline by five trans police officials between 2023 and 2024. This was driven largely by Tamil Nadu, which employed six trans officials in 2023, and only one in the following year. As of now, no trans officials have been recruited to India’s central investigation agencies or other central police organisations, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Before the BPRD began publishing this data, what we knew about the recruitment of trans persons in police forces was drawn from anecdotal information, news stories, and the occasional press release.
In 2015, the media widely reported the appointment of K Prithika Yashini—the country’s first trans police officer—in Tamil Nadu. Three trans persons had earlier been recruited as constables in the same state, one publication noted. Two years later, Ganga Kumari became the first trans person to be appointed by the Rajasthan Police, joining as a constable. Both Prithika and Ganga had to fight protracted legal battles to secure their recruitment.
In late-2017, Chhattisgarh announced a drive to recruit transgender police officers. The results from the 2017-’18 examination were delayed—but by 2021, it became the first state to induct a cohort of trans police officials with the appointment of 13 constables. In 2021, Maharashtra opened police recruitment for trans persons after a group of trans women legally challenged their exclusion from the process. However, several trans applicants alleged discrimination in both the written and physical exams such as delays in receiving hall tickets and unfair physical standards, according to news reports.
Hiring alone cannot ensure a diversified police force. In early-2023, for instance, R Nasriya, a Dalit trans woman employed as a police constable in Tamil Nadu, quit her job after four years. She detailed grave allegations of gendered and casteist discrimination, along with the mental health distress she had endured, in her resignation letter.
Since early-2024, a few more states have recruited trans police officials, but these appointments do not yet reflect in the data that the BPRD has published. In July 2024, for example, three transgender persons cleared the requisite qualifications to become sub-inspectors in the Bihar police. Some of these are auxiliary appointments. The Tamil Nadu government announced in May 2025 that it would employ 50 trans persons in the state’s home guard services, who would be trained in traffic management, crowd control, and assistance in relief operations during emergencies.
Other states seem to be recruiting trans persons for traffic management in particular. In December 2024, the Telangana state government appointed 44 trans persons as traffic assistants with the Hyderabad city police. In September the following year, the Gujarat police announced a pilot programme to recruit trans persons as traffic marshalls, who would assist police personnel in Ahmedabad.
Meanwhile, as a recent queerbeat story noted, trans persons across the country struggle to access law enforcement mechanisms because the very officials who are meant to protect them are often deeply prejudiced.