Rahul Cherian, an expert and policy activist in disability law, intellectual property (IP) law and technology law passed away on Thursday. He was 39. Rahul passed away while on a family holiday in Goa. The 1998 National Law University Bangalore graduate succumbed to an infection after several days in intensive care. Together with fellow Law alumnus Sachin Malhan, had Cherian co-founded Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability and Policy in October 2009, as an NGO supporting stakeholders and public bodies about laws and policies affecting persons with disabilities.
As head of policy initiatives at Inclusive Planet, he was involved in drafting the Treaty for the Visually Impaired currently being agreed upon by the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva.
Rahul Cherian was also a fellow at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a legal expert on the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s panel on disability laws, and an advisor to several government initiatives related to the disability sector.
