Provide court documents in Braille to visually impaired litigants: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to make necessary arrangements for providing court documents in a readable language (Braille script) to the visually impaired litigants in all cases in which the circumstances so warrant..Single-judge Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta held that the right to access to justice includes the right to receive documents to which the parties are legally entitled in the language and means of communication decipherable by them..The observations and direction came from Court while dealing with an anticipatory bail application in a rape case.It was alleged that both the appellant and the complainant in the case were visually impaired and developed a good relationship in 2018.The judge was told that the petitioner got a job in State Bank of India in 2019 after which he rented an accommodation. He took the complainant there on April 19, 2019 and forced himself on her. Thereafter on April 24, 2019, he put vermilion on her forehead and established physical relations with her on the assurance of marriage..After noting the facts of the case, the Court granted bail to the petitioner. However, a request was then made by the counsel appearing for the complainant that a copy of the order should be provided in Braille script to her..Justice Mendiratta, therefore, said that in the present case both the petition and prosecutrix are visually impaired who are entitled to be well versed with the proceedings of the litigation they pursue and the documents which materially affect their legal rights.He noted that Section 12 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act), creates a mandate on the State for providing access to justice to the differently abled.The Section casts a positive duty on the appropriate government under sub-section 4 to ensure that all public documents are in accessible formats, the Court said.“Further it is mandated to make available all necessary facilities and equipment to facilitate recording of testimonies, arguments or opinion given by persons with disabilities in their preferred language and means of communication. Right to access to justice includes the right to receive documents to which the parties are legally entitled in the language and means of communication decipherable by them,” the order stated. The Court, therefore, said that suitable arrangements should be made to provide both the complainant and the accused..The judge further said that information about the court’s direction should be suitably disseminated to bring it to the notice of all concerned.Towards this end, it was directed that a copy of the order be placed before the trial court as well as Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law & Justice, Chief Secretary Government of NCT of Delhi and Registry, Delhi High Court for necessary compliance..Petitioner in the case was represented by advocate Himanshu Kaushik. Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Rajni Gupta appeared for the State while the complainant was represented by advocate Richa Dhawan..[Read Order]