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His PIL for social ills
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Rajiv Rajan, who was named a national Role Model, has been fighting for the rights of the disabled
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Photo: M. Karunakaran
Odds don’t deter him Rajiv Rajan
Rajiv Rajan prefers to be called disabled. Not differently abled. “In what way am I different from you?” asks the 34-year-old with cerebral palsy, cocking his head to the side. “I am not different from you,” he says, quoting Nelson Mandela. “I am different like you.”
Rajiv, who was named the Role Model (under the National Awards for Empowerment of Disabled) in December 2007, does not like to be called “a person with disability” either. Why, I ask, and he wheels to the nearest van at Vidya Sagar (an institution for people with special needs), where he works. “I cannot enter this van because of its steps. The steps disable me, I have no disability.” And therefore he has been fighting them — the steps and the other hurdles — through public interest litigations. So far, he has filed four PILS — three by himself, and one with three of his friends (Shekar, Meenakshi and Smitha).
The PIL that drew public attention was filed in June 2007. He took Jetlite to the consumer court for not allowing him to board the flight without an escort. Today, after the case, the Federation of Indian Airlines wants disabled passengers to sign under an indemnity clause that the airlines will not be responsible for anything that happens to the passenger or his or her luggage on board. Rajiv is puzzled and angry about it. “Why should we sign it? We should be treated on a par with other passengers,” he says. “The disabled are not medically ill.”
Three of the four PILs are for access to public transport. “We are simply asking for our rights as Indian citizens,” he says. The first was against the Metropolitan Transport Corporation to make the buses and bus-stops more accessible. The case is currently in court, so he cannot comment on it, but he is glad that the Division Bench extended its scope to include all public transport and public buildings. The third PIL was against the Central Railways. As part of his work, Rajiv has to travel 15 days a month. When he has to travel on rail to Delhi, he says he sometimes starves the previous day. “I cannot use the toilet for 33 hours on train because it is not accessible,” he says. The court has now appointed an Advocate Commission to review the situation.
The fourth litigation was against the Temple Authority of India. “Wheelchairs and callipers are not allowed into temples because it is made of leather,” says Rajiv. The verdict says that the disabled are allowed in as long as it does not violate the ahama principle. “We are clueless what it means,” says Rajiv, raising his eyebrows. “As far as I know, it only has to do with the placing of the idol.”
Receiving the National Award is an honour, he says. After a pause, he adds with a laugh, “But there is so much more to be done for the disabled.”
ASHA S MENON
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