BENGALURU: There is no systematic collection or publication of data on police interactions with persons with disabilities whether during the filing of FIRs, arrests, statements, or court-related procedures and this absence makes it nearly impossible to monitor compliance or drive policy reform, reveals a new report by Bengaluru-based law and policy think tank Pacta.
Titled “Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities in India: A Data Informed Report”, the study finds how systemic exclusion, inaccessible infrastructure, and legal neglect continue to deny persons with disabilities equal treatment in India’s policing system.
Despite the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 mandating 4% reservation in government jobs, the report finds that police forces across states and union territories remain exempt from this requirement.
“There is no reason why the police should remain outside the scope of disability inclusion,” the report notes, stressing that job roles appropriate to specific disabilities must be clearly identified and advertised, and accommodations made so people can perform these roles.”
It also points to serious gaps in sensitisation within police departments. Although Section 48 of the RPwD Act mandates disability awareness training, officers remain largely uninformed about how to respectfully and lawfully interact with persons with disabilities. Pacta, in its report, recommended that police departments collaborate with civil society organisations to conduct regular training and integrate disability awareness into standard training curricula.
Despite requirements under the Accessible India Campaign and the Ministry of Home Affairs’ 2021 guidelines on infrastructure standards, older police stations remain inaccessible, and even modern stations often have poorly maintained or unusable facilities.
The report, part of a larger study on disability access in the justice system, which also looks at prisons, courts, and legal aid mechanisms, calls for mandatory data collection aligned with Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), alongside public reporting of reasonable accommodations and accessibility audits.
It also recommends full implementation of landmark Supreme Court rulings, such as Ravinder Kumar Dhariwal vs Union of India, which affirmed the rights of persons with disabilities to be considered for appropriate roles in police and paramilitary forces.