DISABILITY RIGHTS LEGAL ADVOCACY
Mission Accessibility takes up cases on behalf of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) who require legal representation or seeking tailored litigation support in respect of disability rights. These cases are pursued in a variety of forums including the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, other High Courts such as Bombay and Kerala, State and Central Disability Commissions, and other quasi-judicial bodies such as Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
Our flagship intervention is the Project RPwD Generation. Launched in 2023, this is a landmark legal aid project undertaken by MA in which we take up cases in 3 important areas, namely:
1. Accessibility
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act puts an obligation on the government to ensure that all content available in electronic media is in accessible format. He said the principle of reasonable accommodation requires that necessary and appropriate modifications are done to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy their rights equally.
In the realm of Physical Media:
We at Mission Accessibility secured a first-of-its-kind order in India, wherein Delhi High Court directed the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Bollywood movie Pathaan (produced by Yash Raj Films) to be released with accessibility features; the Delhi High Court proceedings were supported by sign language interpretation.of inaccessible applications and websites. Similarly, we also filed a petition in the Hon’ble Delhi High Court calling for the addition of accessibility features to Allu Arjun-starrer film ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’, to cater to movie goers with disabilities. Consecutively, the directions were issued to the Producer of the Film and the film was made accessible to the people with visual and hearing impairments with Audio Descriptions and closed captions on the Greta App in the movie theatres.
We have also filed petition before the Delhi High Court seeking accessibility features for two movies, ‘Stree 2’ and ‘Auron me Kahan Dam Tha’, wherein the Hon’ble High Court was kind enough to issue notices to the Producer of the films, the OTT Platforms and the Centre, as both these films were inaccessible due to lack of certain critical features like audio descriptions for visually impaired individuals and the same language captions for those with hearing impairments.
In realm of Digital Accessibility:
Secured a first-of-its-kind order in the court of Chief Commissioner for Persons With Disabilities, which mandated private service providers to make their offerings accessible to PwDs; Have about 100 cases pending in court of Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in respect of inaccessible applications and websites. Recently in December 2024, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court directed the ride-hailing app Rapido to undergo an accessibility audit and submit its report in pursuit of the petition filed by Advocate Rahul Bajaj. The Rapido is set to update its application in upcoming months to make the app accessible for the PwDs.
Simultaneously, Mission Accessibility has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against the Uber for their app’s inaccessibility and lack of proper sensitisation of their staff towards diasability, which caused undue and uncalled distress to our visually-impaired founder Rahul Bajaj. In its pursuit, the Delhi High Court has sought response from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) and Uber India Technology Private Ltd. regarding their accessibiity features to accomodate PwDs, mandate for regular training and sensitisation for drivers on disability awarenesss; system for monitoring and enforcing compliance of the same. This is next listed on March 27, 2025.
2. Discrimination against PwDs in various sectors such as housing, employment, education, etc,
Mission Accessibility is proactive towards working to secure rights of PwDs, and address any violation of their rights in different aspects of life. MA has been successful in their efforts to secure equality, and due rights of PwDs wherever infringements and inaccessibility are discovered. We actively pursue litigation before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the High Courts. Some of the relevant recent cases are worth noting due to their landmark value, as:
In October, 2024, the Hon’ble Supreme Court allowed two visually impaired individuals to appear in the Interview of the Rajasthan Judicial Services Examination, under which they have been disqualified in Mains Examination, as no horizontal reservation was created for them within their cataegories. However, the Supreme Court has further clarified that the reservation for the PwDs are the interlocking or horizontal reservations that cut across vertical reservations allocated for backward classes of the society. One remarkable thing to note is that, both the petitioners, namely Siddharth and Tishan had subsequently qualified Rajasthan Judicial Services Examination, and are now a Civil Judge.
Similarly, in another case titled as, Yash Dodani & Ors. vs. Union of India & Ors. W.P.(C) No. 785/2024, the Supreme Court allowed one of the Petitioners with 90% Low Vision Disability to use Computer System to give All India Bar Examination AIBE- XIX. While for another petitioner, who has 100% Blindness, the Supreme Court allowed him to use a scribe to give CLAT PG Examination. For Petitioner No.3, the Court directed and allowed him to get access to soft copies of Bare Act and Permission to use Computer in AIBE XIX.
Mission Accessibility has been proactively working in the realm of social welfare. MA had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to obtain directives to address the Stray Animal Menace. PIL was concerned with the stray animal attacks on the PwDs and the overall public in Delhi. The High Court has called for an urgent approach to address this issue. The Division Bench highlighted the need for policies that address animal control while protecting human rights, specially PwDs. Due directions have been issued to the Delhi Government to undertake the needful steps, and ensure public safety.