Rapido yet to make their services disabled friendly despite several app updates: Delhi High Court told

The Delhi High Court was recently informed that despite cab aggregator Rapido making multiple app updates and bug fixes, it is yet to resolve barriers faced by persons with disabilities who use their services [Amar Jain and anr v. Roppen Transportation Services Pvt. Ltd (Rapido) and ors]..Justice Subramonium Prasad then proceeded to seek Rapido's response on this aspect after the issue was flagged on February 2..The Court was dealing with a plea seeking directions to make app-based cab aggregators friendly and accessible for disabled people. It had earlier issued notice in the matter to the Central government by an order passed in November 2023. The plea filed by disability rights activist Amar Jain and a visually impaired banker Dipto Ghosh Chaudhary stated that the petitioners rely on the Rapido mobile ride application but the app fails to cater to the accessibility needs of disabled individuals.The Court was told that the difficulty is not limited only to the Rapido app but even other cab aggregators do not have a system in place to accommodate persons with disabilities.The plea contended that Ghosh was denied a ride by a Rapido captain (driver) when he learned about his disability and that such experiences undermine the dignity of a person with disability..More recently, an application was filed by the petitioners pointing out that after the Court issued notice in the matter, there have been multiple updates of the Rapido mobile application - both in the iOS and the Android versions.However, not a single update has addressed the concerns raised by the petitioners, the application stated. This reflected Rapido's casual and insensitive attitude to the issue, the Court was told."Despite as many as six updates having taken place, not a single issue flagged by the petitioners has as yet been resolved, thus pointing to Respondent no. 1 's casual and insensitive attitude. The same is true for the Android version updates," the application stated. The application also pointed out several specific issues that could have been addressed by the cab aggregator through updates, including:Visually impaired users cannot independently cancel a ride; Such persons cannot track the location of the driver;Such persons cannot message drivers from within the app;A number of critical buttons in the app are unlabeled, such as for selection of vendors for making payment. These buttons are therefore inaccessible..The Court, therefore, sought Rapido's response on these aspects. It will hear the case next on April 2. Advocates Rahul Bajaj, Pritthish Roy and Mahoor Ghani appeared for the petitioners. .[Read Order]