Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016: Key Highlights
The Ministry of Law and Justice has notified the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, in the Official Gazette, and it has come into force. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, now stands repealed. Both Houses of Parliament passed the Bill in the winter session. Salient features of the Act can be read in this Live Law report.
Categories of Persons with Disabilities
The Act categorizes Persons with Disabilities into three categories:
- Person with disability
- Person with benchmark disability
- Person with disability having high support needs
While a "person with disability" is defined as "a person with long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, hinders their full and effective participation in society equally with others," a "person with benchmark disability" means "a person with not less than forty percent of a specified disability where specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with a disability where specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority."
Further, the Act defines a "person with disability having high support needs" as a person with benchmark disability certified under clause (a) of subsection (2) of section 58 who needs high support.
Legal Provisions and Punishments
Special Courts will be designated in each district to provide a speedy trial. The Act makes the following acts punishable with imprisonment for a term not less than six months but which may extend to five years, along with a fine:
- Intentionally insulting or intimidating with intent to humiliate a person with a disability in any place within public view
- Assaulting or using force against any person with a disability with the intent to dishonor them or outrage the modesty of a woman with a disability
- Voluntarily or knowingly denying food or fluids to a person with a disability
- Exploiting a child or woman with a disability sexually
- Injuring, damaging, or interfering with the use of any limb or sense of a person with a disability
- Performing a medical procedure on a woman with a disability leading to the termination of pregnancy without her express consent, except in severe cases of disability with the opinion of a registered medical practitioner and the consent of the guardian of the woman with a disability.
The Ministry of Law and Justice has notified the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, in the Official Gazette, and it has come into force. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, now stands repealed. Both Houses of Parliament passed the Bill in the winter session. Salient features of the Act can be read in this Live Law report.
Categories of Persons with Disabilities
The Act categorizes Persons with Disabilities into three categories:
- Person with disability
- Person with benchmark disability
- Person with disability having high support needs
While a "person with disability" is defined as "a person with long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, hinders their full and effective participation in society equally with others," a "person with benchmark disability" means "a person with not less than forty percent of a specified disability where specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with a disability where specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority."
Further, the Act defines a "person with disability having high support needs" as a person with benchmark disability certified under clause (a) of subsection (2) of section 58 who needs high support.
Legal Provisions and Punishments
Special Courts will be designated in each district to provide a speedy trial. The Act makes the following acts punishable with imprisonment for a term not less than six months but which may extend to five years, along with a fine:
- Intentionally insulting or intimidating with intent to humiliate a person with a disability in any place within public view
- Assaulting or using force against any person with a disability with the intent to dishonor them or outrage the modesty of a woman with a disability
- Voluntarily or knowingly denying food or fluids to a person with a disability
- Exploiting a child or woman with a disability sexually
- Injuring, damaging, or interfering with the use of any limb or sense of a person with a disability
- Performing a medical procedure on a woman with a disability leading to the termination of pregnancy without her express consent, except in severe cases of disability with the opinion of a registered medical practitioner and the consent of the guardian of the woman with a disability.
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