Taking suo motu cognisance of mid-day’s October 19 report ‘Bride on wheelchair made to trek two floors to get married’, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) summoned the Collector and the marriage registrar to appear before it on November 3 in person.

The SHRC has initiated a complaint based on the news report as the issue pertains to human rights. The notice spells out the failure of the authorities in redressing the disabled person’s grievance. The commission has also asked the Collector and marriage registrar to submit a response to the complaint along with relevant documents.

The news report stated that the marriage registration office at Khar is on the second floor and lacks a lift. Virali Modi, the bride through her agent, was told that officials cannot come to her to the ground floor owing to the lack of a portable biometric scanner. However, they would make a home visit for a registration fee of R25,000 instead of the regular R10,000, which meant that office did have a portable scanner. “The stairs were steep and railings loose and rusty,” Modi told mid-day. The matter will appear before the division bench of Justice K K Tated and commission chairperson M A Sayeed on November 3 at 11 am.

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