[Human Dignity] "Differently abled persons shouldn't be asked to remove prosthetic limbs/calipers for airport security checks": Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has ordered that no differently abled person who uses prosthetic limbs/calipers should be asked to remove them for security checks at airports, in order to maintain human dignity.

A division bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramaniam ordered so while hearing a writ petition filed by one Jeeja Ghosh, who is suffering from cerebral palsy, along with Abled, Differently Abled, All People Together, formerly known as the Spastics Society of India.

The grievance of the petitioner was in respect of the treatment meted out to him by the crew of the SpiceJet airline.

In 2015, a representation had been filed, inter alia, to seek directions from the Union of India (UoI) to follow the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) guidelines dated May 1, 2008 with regard to the carrying/lifting of differently abled persons.

Subsequently, in 2017, the Court was apprised of the revised CAR guidelines and that suitable amendments are required to be made for effective care of differently abled people.

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was then directed to look into the suggestions submitted by the petitioners and to incorporate amendments in the CAR guidelines, as may be necessary, after considering the directions of this Court as well as the remarks/comments of the petitioners.

The guidelines were recently revised and the draft guidelines regarding ‘Carriage by Air of Persons with Disability and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility’ were put in public domain in the year 2021.

"We leave it open to the petitioners to submit objections/suggestions to the draft guidelines with a hope that the DGCA shall consider such suggestions even if the time limit for submission of the suggestions has come to an end. Such suggestions may be submitted within 30 days from today", ordered the Bench.

The Court further ordered that no differently abled person should be manually lifted without his consent as it would be inhumane.

"How the differently abled person should be treated with dignity, is left to the DGCA," it said.

Cause Title: Jeevan Ghosh & Anr vs Union of India & Ors