In what is said to be first of its kind case in recent times, Hyderabad police registered a First Information Report (FIR) under the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act, based on a complaint by a physically-challenged student’s father.
The criminal case was registered under Section 92 (a) of the RPWD Act-2016 by the Nampally police against two officials of Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University. The complaint was lodged by M. Ravinder Reddy, a police officer, alleging that the university authorities had violated the Special Act’s provisions while conducting viva voce of his son M. Vikram Aditya Reddy who was pursuing BFA (photography and visual communication) programme in JNAFAU.
Mr. Ravinder Reddy said in the complaint that his son was congenitally hearing impaired with 80db hearing loss in each ear. According to him, the college management failed to provide the necessary facilities and accommodations assured under the RPWD Act though his son secured seat under the quota reserved for physically-challenged persons.
Among other charges, the complainant said the college failed to provide microphones or a speaker in the classroom as mandated by the Special Act. The editing labs and window labs were not designed to be hearing-challenged friendly, according to the FIR copy. The police officer said that University Grants Commission has a special scheme called Higher Education for Persons with Special Needs (HEPSN) through which financial assistance was given to educational institutions to assist physically challenged students.
The JNAFAU failed to take advantage of the scheme, the complainant said. Mr. Reddy stated that he had requested the university authorities to substitute the viva voce exam for his son for the final semester (internship) with a written exam. But they went ahead with the viva voce discriminating against the student, he charged.
He also alleged that instead of evaluating the thesis at the viva voce by a jury of three members, the Head of the Department and one external jury member completed the process. The college authorities were reluctant to provide information about the basis of evaluation they had adopted, he alleged.
The Nampally police began investigation into the allegations levelled by the student’s father.
