Do not manually lift disabled person without consent, remove prosthetic limbs/calipers during security checks: Supreme Court to DGCA

The Supreme Court has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to ensure that disabled persons are not lifted manually without their consent or asked to remove prosthetic limbs/calipers during security checks during air travel (Jeeja Ghosh & Anr v Union of India & ors).A Bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanium asked the DGCA to take into account these aspects before finalising the amended Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) guidelines which would apply to airlines with respect to treatment of passengers with disability..In this regard, the Court said that lifting a person manually without his/ her consent is inhumane.."First is that no differently abled person should be manually lifted without his consent. We find that the suggestion is worth considering, as lifting of a person manually is inhumane. How, the differently abled person should be treated with dignity is left to the DGCA," the Court said. Regarding prosthetic limbs/calipers, the Court stated that disabled persons should not be asked to remove the same during security checks to maintain human dignity."In the draft guidelines circulated, it has been mentioned that scanning of prosthetic limbs/calipers though full body scanner but to what extent differently abled persons with prosthetic limbs/calipers are required to be checked for the purpose of security should be in a manner where, no such person is asked to remove prosthetic limbs/calipers to maintain human dignity while ensuring the requirement of security checks," the Court said..The Court was hearing a plea by one Jeeja Ghosh, a person suffering from cerebral palsy and an organisation Spastics Society of India raising grievance meted out to Ghosh by the crew of Spicejet airlines..The Court had earlier awarded compensation to Ghosh and ordered the DGCA to revise the CAR guidelines taking into consideration the requirements of persons with disability.In this regard, the Court was also directed to look into the suggestions made by the petitioners. .Pursuant to that, the CAR guidelines were revised on July 2, 2021 and the draft guidelines regarding ‘Carriage by Air of Persons with Disability and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility’ were put in public domain.When the matter was taken up for hearing on December 1, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioners, raised multiple objections with regard to the draft guidelines..The Bench directed the petitioners to submit suggestions for the DGCA's consideration within 30 days. .[Read Order]