Supreme Court Enhances Digital KYC for Disabled Individuals

In a big victory for people with disabilities, the Supreme Court of India has ordered the government to make the digital KYC (Know Your Customer) process better and easier for everyone, especially for those with facial disfigurements and visual impairments. A group of judges, including Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, gave 20 important instructions to various government departments to make sure everyone can access services.

Some key points from the court’s order include:

– Every government department must have a special officer in charge of checking accessibility for disabled people.
– Regular checks for accessibility must be done by certified experts, and people with blindness should help test new apps and websites.
– The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has to create new ways for customers to verify their identities that don’t rely on traditional methods like blinking.
– KYC forms need to include information about a customer’s disability to offer better services.
– Authorities should accept thumbprints instead of just photos during the KYC process.
– Government notifications need to be accessible through sign language, braille, and easy-to-read formats.
– Online services like digital payments must be usable for disabled people too.
– There will be a way for customers who have completed their KYC to share their information with other companies easily.
– A special help system should be set up for people with disabilities to report any issues they face.
– In cases where a KYC application gets rejected due to accessibility issues, a person should review these applications instead of just relying on computers.

This ruling came from two legal petitions, one from acid attack survivors and another from a blind individual, showing how hard it is for some people to complete KYC tasks that require sight or physical movements.