The Delhi High Court on Tuesday witnessed a sign language interpreter explaining the proceedings to hearing impaired petitoners. The petition was filed for improved accessibility for visually and hearing impaired persons in the recent film Pathan.
Facts of the case are the petition filed by people with disabilities including a law student, lawyer and a disability rights activists where it pleaded for a direction to Yash Raj Films , OTT platforms and Government to make some arrangements for visually and hearing impaired persons as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
During the hearing the Court witnessed the presence of sign language interpreters who were explaining the proceedings to the litigants who wanted to attend a physical hearing. In its last order on April 6,the Court had ordered Centre to hold a discussion with various stakeholders of the film industry to solve the issue.
The counsel for centre submitted a report from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting showing the progress on the matter where a meeting was held in June and July with the stakeholders from Film Industry.
A bench of Single Judge Pratibha Singh expressed concern that despite the Act came in 2016, hearing and visually impaired persons are still not able to enjoy the basic form of entertainment that is films.
The Court further mentioned Section 42 of the Act that provides for access to information and communication technology as legally mandatory, failure to which is an offence under Section 89 and 90 of the Act.
The Court directed the Centre to publish its order on its official website and asked the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to be present in the next hearing on Nov 2.
It further urged the film industry to be extra sensitive towards disabled people.
Justice Singh stated that a panel of language interpreter must be present to handle cases related to hearing impaired persons for their better understanding.
Written by Tannu of 3rd Semester of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, an intern under Legal Vidhiya
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