New Delhi, Oct. 9 -- The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, was a "toothless tiger" while hearing a petition seeking recognition of rape as an offence against transgender women and transgender children under the BNS. The court prima facie observed that such expansion lies within the legislature's domain, not the judiciary, while asking the Centre to file its response. Hearing a plea by Dr Chandresh Jain, a bench of chief justice DK Upadhyaya and justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted that had the legislature intended such inclusion, it would have amended Section 376 of the IPC-now replaced by Section 63 of BNS-which explicitly defines rape as committed by a "man" against a "woman", excluding men, transgender persons, and animals. Jain sought inclusion of "transwoman" and "transchildren" under Chapter V of the BNS, arguing that Section 18 of Transgender Persons Act is inadequate. htc...