It is a known fact that most of our public places and buildings are not
accessible for people with disabilities, especially for those with loco motor
disabilities. Disabled people have to literally undergo numerous struggles to
even fight for a case at courts because of the lack of accessibility at our
court buildings and its premises. Most of the times, they have to wait for
many years to get justice. Now, the Kerala government is gearing up to do
something in favour of disabled people. Additional session’s
courts in Kerala are going to be run exclusively for handling cases of people
with disabilities. The state government has assured that arrangements to
start this will begin from the month of February.
This is indeed a novel and much appreciated move from the Kerala state
government that has always stood up for empowering disabled people. According
to the Rights of Persons with disabilities Act, 2016, state
governments must have special provisions to handle cases of people with
disabilities. That is precisely the reason why the government introduced this
new facility. It will be introduced in all districts across the state
Saleem K is a wheelchair user and the co-ordinator
of Santhwana project that empowers people with disabilities. This is
their eighth successful year. Saleem says that this new move by the
government will help people with disabilities.
It is high time that our courts are made disabled friendly because I have
come across numerous cases where disabled people are even forced to
withdraw their cases due to inaccessible court buildings. Most of them have
to wait for many years to get justice. It is the right of every disabled
person to have access to public spaces. We hope this new exclusive court
will make things easier now-Saleem K
The government has also assured that the court building and premises will be
disabled friendly. They will have exclusive accessible parking
spaces where disabled people can park their cars at the entrance of
the court. They will also have wheelchair ramps for people with
loco motor disabilities. Since cases of people without disabilities are not
going to be handled at the court, disabled people do not have to wait in long
queues to get justice.
Disabled people, activists and NGO’s have been raising complaints about the
difficulties that they face while fighting a case at Indian courts. Since
there are no proper facilities for seating arrangements, they often get tired
waiting for long hours. But not anymore. These new court premises will have
special seating arrangements for people with all kinds of
disabilities.
Decisions pertaining to working days of the court, the different cases and
the number of cases that will be taken up will be decided by the Judge.
“This is indeed a great move. People with disabilities have many problems.
Some of them are not even able to go outdoors due to lack of accessibility.
Hopefully, having exclusive courts will make a difference and people will be
able to easily address their grievance”, says Preetha Thonnakkal, a
wheelchair user from Kerala.
ALSO READ: No approval for buildings in Kerala without accessibility
features
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/21321
