Supreme Court To Hear Plea On Difficulties Of Persons With Blindness & Low Vision To Complete Digital KYC Process

The Supreme Court on Tuesday(January 21) issued notice in a writ petition seeking directions for the concerned authorities to frame guidelines providing appropriate methods to conduct digital Know Your Customer (KYC)/e-KYC/video KYC with a view to make the process accessible for persons with blindness/low vision.

It also seeks to ensure accessibility and reasonable accommodation in accessing financial, telecom services and government schemes by persons with disabilities specifically blindness/low vision.

The petition has been filed by Advocate Amar Jain, who has 100% blind. The petitioner has argued in the writ petition that he regularly suffers from various KYC's formalities online due to a lack of accessible identification methods for conducting the KYC process digitally. It is stated that the current KYC process involves taking a selfie, signing with pen & paper, putting a signature on screen using mouse, printing and rescanning or clicking photos of filled up form, extremely short duration of OTPs, etc which remains inaccessible for persons with disabilities. Therefore, violates the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and the Constitution of India.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan issued notice in this writ petition and tagged it with another writ petition (Pragya Prasun & Ors v. UOI) currently being heard by the same bench. In the Pragya Prasun's writ petition, the guidelines have been sought for an inclusive KYC process for acid attack survivors and persons with permanent eye damage. 

Directions have been sought from Central authorities for framing appropriate guidelines providing for alternative methods to conduct the Digital KYC/e-KYC process for acid attack survivors suffering from permanent eye disfigurement or eye burns, with the view to make the Digital KYC/e-KYC process more accessible and inclusive towards all disabled persons, particularly acid attack survivors.

The petitioner prayed that the Centre clarifies the meaning and interpretation of 'Live Photograph' as mentioned in the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) – KYC Master Directions, 2016 for conducting the Digital KYC/e-KYC and suitable alternatives be framed for this 'live photograph' considering the challenges faced by acid attack survivors and those with permanent eye-disfigurement.

Both matters will be heard for a final hearing on next Tuesday.

Case Details: AMAR JAIN v UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 49/2025 & PRAGYA PRASUN VS. UNION OF INDIA W.P.(C) No. 289/ 2024

Click Here To Read Order 

Appearances: Sidharth Luthra, Sr. Adv (Petitioner) & Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR; Ankur Sood, AOR; Brijender Chahar, A.S.G.; (Respondents) [Pragya's petition] & Advocate Ila Sheel [for Amar's petition]