Supreme Court E-Committee Takes Steps To Improve Access To Justice For Disabled

The e-committee of the Supreme Court of India has formulated an action plan to ensure accessibility of the digital interface of all High Court websites in its first phase. The e-committee has devised six parameters to determine if a High Court website is accessible-These were: Access to judgments; Access to cause-lists; Access to case status; Contrast/ colour theme; text size [A+AA]; and screen reader access.

The initiative is to pursue a December 2020 letter by the e-committee headed by Justice D.Y.Chandrachud encouraging all High Courts to make their digital infrastructure accessible to persons with disabilities in conformity with their constitutional and statutory entitlements. The letter contained structural interventions for High Courts to undertake n this regard.

The compliance report shows that all the High Court websites now have accessible captchas that serve as entry points to several essential facets of a court website. Earlier to the committee's intervention, all High Courts exclusively used visual captchas, making it inaccessible to the visually challenged. For ensuring accessibility to the visually challenged, th visual captchas are now accompanied by text audio captchas making the website content accessible to the visually challenged.

All 32 High Courts have contrast colour themes and text sizes A+ A A-. Apart from the High Courts of Delhi, Gauhati, Gujarat and Bombay, all others have screen reader access. For the captcha to access judgements/orders, cause lists and case status at the website, all High Courts either do not have a captcha or have enabled audio captcha.

Standard Operating Procedure being developed for accessible court documents and e-portals:

The e-Committee is preparing a Standard Operating Procedure for generating accessible court documents and will serve as a user guide to its stakeholders to address watermarks, entering content by hand, improper placement of stamps, and inaccessible pagination of stamps files. The e-committee has sought the input and suggestions of the Chief Justices of all the High Courts on creating the said SOP.

The e-Committee, in collaboration with National Informatics Centre [NIC], is also creating a judgment search portal (https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in) accessible to persons with disabilities. The portal will contain judgements and final orders passed by all High Courts, facilitated by a free text search engine. In addition, the portal provides the facility of using an audio captcha, along with a text captcha and uses accessible combo boxes, making it easier for the visually disabled to navigate.

The website of the e-Committee (https://ecommitteesci.gov.in/) and the e-Courts website (https://ecourts.gov.in/ecourts_home/) are also accessible to persons with disabilities. The committee webpage is created on the S3WAAS platform, complying with the standards for making websites disabled-friendly.

The ecommittee's training programmes for Lawyers aim at sensitizing Advocates to adopt accessible filing practices. These measures are significant to improve access to justice for the disabled, serving as a powerful affirmation of their dignity, allowing them to participate in our justice system on equal terms. It has been stated that these initiatives enable legal professionals with disabilities to participate in the profession on the same footing as their able-bodied counterparts.

"These initiatives of the e-Committee have helped transform our courts from sites of exclusion to bastions of inclusion for the disabled, and it is a way forward in creating an accessible and inclusive legal system", the Press Release reads.

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