Indian Courts Fail Ensure Sign-Language Access
Advocate-on-Record Sanchita Ain and advocate Sarah Sunny say Indian courtrooms remain inconsistently accessible to deaf lawyers, speaking at The Hindu's Justice Unplugged in New Delhi on February 28, 2026. They recalled a September 2023 Supreme Court hearing where Ain arranged and funded an Indian Sign Language interpreter so Sunny could follow proceedings, and warned that arranging interpreters remains tedious. Ain is developing a legal sign-language thesaurus to bridge terminology gaps.
Key Points
- 1Document systemic inconsistency: courts frequently lack Indian Sign Language interpreters during hearings, hindering real-time access.
- 2Highlight ad hoc provision forcing deaf advocates to arrange and sometimes fund interpreters; court staff often misunderstand needs.
- 3Mandate routine ISL services and implement a legal sign-language thesaurus to ensure equitable courtroom participation for deaf lawyers.
Scoring Rationale
Credible reporting highlights systemic courtroom accessibility gaps, but evidence is anecdotal and lacks comprehensive policy analysis.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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