‘They need human help, not wheelchairs’

How can a wheelchair given by Railways visually impaired help catch a train: HC

The court said the visually or speech impaired do not require a wheelchair as they can walk themselves.

The Delhi High Court on Friday wondered how a wheelchair provided by the Railways will help a visually impaired person who requires human assistance in catching a train at a railway station.

The court said a visually or speech impaired person does not require a wheelchair as they walk themselves but need human assistance.

Court’s observation

A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar made the observation while going through a status report filed by the Railways that they were providing wheelchairs to the differently-abled persons at the station.

The court was hearing a PIL initiated on its own after coming across a report that the door of the special compartment for the differently-abled was shut and a youth missed his MPhil test at the Delhi University (DU) last year.

Terming the report as an eye opener, the Bench had remarked that even DU did not pay attention to the ordeal of the student, Vaibhav Shukla.

During the day, the court was informed by senior advocate R.S. Rungta that differently-abled persons were asked by the Railways to pay charges for availing wheelchair facilities and they also did not provide human assistance.

“Why is no free assistance given to the person who needs a wheelchair? What is the purpose of having a wheelchair? If someone is travelling alone, how will they use wheelchair unless you provide them a motorised wheelchair?”

“A visually impaired person or a locomotive disabled person cannot run around looking for a disability assistance officer. How will a visually impaired person reach the train? A visually or speech impaired person does not need wheelchair. They walk but they need human assistance. Where is human assistance?” it said.

Railways’ defence

However, the counsel for the Railways and a senior officer said their helpline provides all assistance and also called on the helpline number inside the court itself to prove the point.

The court noted that though it was mentioned in the status report that services may be arranged on payment basis, the Railways was giving free-of-cost human assistance to disabled persons, including visually or speech impaired, and senior citizens. It also asked the authorities to give wide publicity to its ‘Yatri Mitra Sewa’ which has been introduced at major railway stations for the time being.

New module

The Bench was informed by the Railways that they have formed a module and started imparting training to sensitise staff regarding differently-abled persons.

The court also asked them to place the roster through which the training module is being implemented and take the assistance of Nipun Malhotra, a disability rights activist who suffers from a locomotor disability, to impart training.