Justice Manmohan highlights the urgent need for sensitisation on the rights of persons with disabilities, stressing empathy in society and affirming that these rights are legal obligations, not acts of charity.
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NEW DELHI: Justice Manmohan of the Supreme Court of India echoes a deeper truth about the state of disability rights in our country. He said,
“You need empathy in the society, which is lacking.”
At a conference titled ‘Judging and Lawyering at the Margins: Disability Rights and Beyond’, organised by the Justice Sunanda Bhandare Foundation in collaboration with Qable, Justice Manmohan delivered an urgent and honest assessment of where India stands in its commitment to persons with disabilities.
Justice Manmohan addressed the need for widespread sensitisation and awareness. While the judiciary has taken progressive steps in upholding the rights of persons with disabilities, verdicts alone are not enough. Awareness about existing laws and rights under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, is essential for ensuring that both the public and state institutions understand their roles in upholding these rights.
“The need of the hour is to create sensitisation, to create awareness. And I think the more awareness is there about the Act, about the rights that are available, the more the society will understand, the more the courts will understand and it will ensure more compliance,”
Justice Manmohan said.
Justice Manmohan also addressed a harsh reality, that the overburdened nature of Indian courts. With the daily case load overflowing, it is impractical to expect courts to monitor the implementation of every verdict indefinitely. He said,
“First of all, the court dockets are absolutely full and really to say that court will pick up this issue and give it absolute priority is not feasible because every day the court is grappling with so many issues.”
He emphasised that other pillars of democracy, particularly the legislature and executive, must shoulder their responsibility. Simply relying on contempt proceedings for enforcement is neither sustainable nor productive. As he rightly put it,
“Everything cannot be done at the pain of contempt. And if we start using the power of contempt repeatedly, it also loses its utility at some point of time”.
Perhaps the most powerful part of his speech was his criticism of the deeply embedded “charity mindset” towards persons with disabilities. He highlighted that society and institutions often perceive disability rights as optional or benevolent acts of kindness rather than legally mandated entitlements.
“This is an obligation, not some charity being done.”
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He added,
“I think the basic problem that is arising is because everyone is believing that this is some sort of a charity which is being done. You think of any concept, whether it’s gender justice, whether it is persons with disability, the mindset of the executive as well, to a large extent, the people who have been adjudicating these matters in the past have been that we will deal with it as if one is doing a bit of a charity.”
He emphasised that societal empathy is crucial for any legal mandate to translate into meaningful change at the grassroots. In his words,
“We have to be realistic… If you think that only judiciary is going to resolve the problem of this country, you are sadly mistaken.”
Former Supreme Court judge Justice A.K. Sikri echoed these sentiments, stressing the need for sensitisation at judicial and educational levels, especially in judicial academies and law schools.
Advocate Rahul Bajaj and Deputy Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Praveen Prakash Ambashta also contributed, with Bajaj commending the Delhi High Court’s proactive steps, such as empaneling lawyers with disabilities and prioritizing their matters.
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