Registrar Forces Disabled Woman to Take Stairs For Marriage Registration, Suspended

After a disabled woman was made to go up to the second-floor office of a marriage registrar at Khar in Mumbai on her wedding day to finish the formalities, the marriage officer was suspended. Arun Ghodekar, the officer, was suspended by a government resolution (GR) issued by the Maharashtra revenue department on Wednesday.

Wheelchair user and disability rights activist Virali Modi wrote last week on X that on her wedding day, the building had no elevator, and the officials wouldn’t come down to finish the paperwork, so she had to be carried to the city’s marriage registrar’s office on the second floor.

“How is this fair? What happened to the Accessible India campaign? Just because I’m a wheelchair user, do I not have the right to get married to someone I love? What if someone had slipped and what if I had fallen on my wedding day? Who is responsible?” she asked.

Modi in her post last week said, “I am disabled and I got married at the Registrars Office at Khar Mumbai on 16/10/23. The office was on the 2nd floor WITHOUT a lift. They wouldn’t come downstairs for the signatures and I had to be carried up two flights of stairs to get married.”

“I am disheartened that my country’s government and citizens cannot accommodate to my disability. My faith in humanity has been destroyed by this ordeal. I am not a piece of luggage that needs to be carried up two floors. I am a human being and my rights matter!” she added.

In response to the widely shared post, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed regret for the experiences she had to endure and promised to take “corrective and appropriate action.”

Also Read: Right To Marry Person Of Choice Undeniable: Delhi High Court