Hearing the hearing impaired in public places

December 7, 2023.

Recently in September, the Indian Supreme Court made headlines by permitting a hearing-impaired lawyer to present her case in court with the help of a sign language interpreter. In another case involving hearing impaired litigants, the Delhi High Court directed its officials to ensure that court proceedings were accompanied by sign language interpretation. These two very visible developments were an affirmation of the rights of people with hearing disabilities to access information and communication services in public settings.  Notably, they were in accordance with a 2017 judgment of the Supreme Court in a case presented by the Disability Law Initiative, directing the Central and State Governments to train and deploy sign language interpreters in places frequented by the public.

But how have the Central and State governments done so far on this score? Read more here about the Court orders and the Government’s response.

The December 2017 judgment of the Supreme Court

In the case of Rajive Raturi vs. Central and State Governments, the Petitioner, represented by the Human Rights Law Network and the Disability Law Initiative, questioned the Central Government’s Accessible India Campaign (AIC) project before the Indian Supreme Court. The Petitioner submitted that the AIC target of training and deploying 200 sign language interpreters was farcical. Sign language interpreters were required at least at all major places where communication and dealing with the public both in the public and private sector take place. This would cover railway stations, major bus depots, hospitals, airports, major government offices, large private sector offices, shopping malls, large educational institutions and the like. Therefore, the requirement for sign language interpreters must be assessed realistically by an expert group and would probably run into tens of thousands for the entire country. Accordingly, the Petitioner prayed for an order directing all States and Union Territories to create a special cadre of sign language interpreters. (Read here the detailed submissions of the Petitioner and the Central Government.)

Agreeing with the Petitioner, in the 2017 judgment the Supreme Court directed the Central and State Governments to do the needful within a reasonable time and to file status reports as to the progress in this area from time to time.

How far have the Central and State Governments progressed?

However, the last status reports and progress plans placed by the Central and State Governments before the Court date back to 2019. Alarmingly, these reports show that the States are moving at a snail’s pace in this regard. Most States had a very limited target of a few tens to a few hundreds of sign language interpreters to be trained and deployed in public places, with target dates for completion varying from 2019 to 2021. Further, anecdotal evidence suggests that during the pandemic lockdown periods and since, very little progress has been made by the States in training and deploying sign language interpreters.

 

  • People with hearing impairment have a right under the RPwD Act, 2016, to access information and communication services in public settings
  • The 2017 judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Rajive Raturi vs. Central and State Governments directed the Central and State Governments to train and deploy sign language interpreters in places frequented by the public.
  • The governments so far appear to have done poorly on this score. Stakeholders in the disability community can hold them accountable by making representations before the competent authorities such as Disability Commissioners, Disability Advisory Boards, and the Central and State disability welfare departments.