The central legal point established in the judgment is the obligation of the government and private parties to provide reasonable accommodation and enforce accessibility as a legal right for persons with disabilities.

JUDGMENT

Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)--This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present petition has been preferred by four Petitioners, out of whom, Petitioner Nos. 1, 2 and 4 are visually impaired and Petitioner No.3 is hearing impaired. The Petitioners had filed the present writ petition seeking reliefs in respect of the feature film `Pathaan' and praying for directions to incorporate sub-titling (same language), sub-titling (otherwise), captioning and audio-description for the movie `Pathaan'. In addition, one of the prayers is for notification of the standards of accessibility to be implemented in films in order to make film viewing enjoyable for visually and hearing impaired persons.

3. The Respondents who were impleaded were the producer of the film Yash Raj Films, two Ministries i.e. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Amazon Sellers Services Private Ltd.

4. The petition was listed on 16th January, 2023 on which date, this Court had considered the submissions made on behalf of the Petitioners as also the Respondents. The provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (hereinafter `RPWD Act, 2016') were also considered. The Court had thereafter directed as under:

"12. Heard. This Court is of the opinion that the present petition raises very important issues as to the accessibility to various modes of entertainment for the hearing and visually impaired persons. A reading of Section 42 of the RPWD Act, 2016 shows that the Government has an obligation to take measures to ensure that all content is available in formats accessible to persons with disabilities. The said provision is set out below:

"42. Access to information and communication technology.-The appropriate Government shall take measures to ensure that,-

(i) all contents available in audio, print and electronic media are in accessible format;

(ii) persons with disabilities have access to electronic media by providing audio description, sign language interpretation and close captioning;

(iii) electronic goods and equipment which are meant for every day use are available in universal design."

13. In the context of films, the measures that can be taken by film producers to make them accessible to the hearing and visually impaired persons, are as under:

• Audio description-which implies the verbal depiction of key visual elements in media and live productions. This involves description of the visuals on screen to enable imagination by the hearing impaired;
• Subtitling-which provides a text alternative for the dialogue of video footage-the spoken words of characters, narrators and other vocal participants, in the original language itself, as also, in the dubbed language in case of dubbed movies; and
• Closed Captions-which not only supplement dialogue but other relevant parts of the soundtrack - describing background noises, phones ringing, and other audio cues that need describing,

These features would be integral to the enjoyment of films for persons with disabilities.

14. In view of the above, special measures would have to be taken for the hearing and visually impaired persons, inasmuch as the experience of watching a film in a movie theatre cannot be denied to persons with disabilities. This is particularly true in view of the fact that the technology for the same is readily available. As submitted by Mr. Bajaj, several films in the past, such as Dangal, Black, Munna Bhai MBBS, are stated to have incorporated audio descriptions, subtitles and closed captions for the hearing and visually impaired persons.

15. Thus, considering the reliefs sought, there are two aspects that would be required to be considered:

i. Firstly, directions insofar as the film `Pathaan' is concerned, to make the said film comply with the prescribed accessibility standards, to the extent possible; and

ii. Secondly, an overall solution that has to be found to ensure the