File photo of Supreme Court.
Credit: PTI Photo
The Supreme Court has begun allowing sign language interpretation for lawyers with hearing impairments. The most recent example came on Friday when a hearing-impaired advocate was allowed to argue virtually with the help of a sign language interpreter.
Sanchita Ain, the advocate-on-record, requested the CJI D Y Chandrachud-led bench that deaf advocate Sarah Sunny be permitted to virtually argue a case about rights of Persons with Disability (PwD) with the help of a sign language interpreter.
The CJI agreed, paving way for the online hearing to commence.
While the advocate's case was slated for serial number 37, the bench allowed her and the interpreter to stay logged in for the proceedings of the day.
The interpreter at first, through swift hand movements, conveyed to Sarah the proceedings and who said what. Tushar Mehta, the solicitor general, was impressed seeing the interpreter's speed while communicating the rapid fire round of cases mentioned for urgent listing in the apex court. "The speed with which the interpreter conveyed the court proceedings to the lawyer was amazing!", The Times of India reported him saying, and the CJI was in agreement.
Then it was time for their case, filed by the Javed Abidi Foundation. The lawyer-interpreter duo engaged in a quick silent sign language exchange, which was then converted to arguments. The bench then turned to the Centre for an answer and solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati commented "An updated status report shall be filed by the Union government so that the petition can be finally disposed of on the next occasion", as per ToI.
On Monday, Bhumika Trust founder president Jayant Singh Raghav, who is visually challenged, made an argument for the implementation of the proviso to Section 24 of the Rights of PwD Act, saying "assistance to the persons with disabilities under such (welfare) schemes and programmes shall be at 25% higher than the similar schemes applicable to others."
The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Central government about the same.
D Y Chandrachud himself has been in favour of equal opportunity for PwD and his many orders and judgements reflect this stance as well.