Does Article 21 include right to digital access?

What approach does the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 take? Why do banks and other financial and government institutions mandate collecting KYC details? How does the current digital KYC framework exclude visually impaired individuals and acid attack survivors?

On April 30, the Supreme Court (SC) directed revisions to Know-Your-Customer (KYC) digital norms to ensure accessibility for ‘persons with disabilities’ (PwD), reinterpreting Article 21 of the Constitution to encompass the ‘right to digital access’.

What laws safeguard rights of PwD?

The Constitution, through its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, and Directive Principles, alongside disability statutes, obligates the state to adapt laws, policies, and infrastructure which allow PwDs to exercise their rights on par with others. Advancing these guarantees and giving effect to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), India enacted the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, which adopted a ‘social-barrier’ approach that defines disability as arising from impairments, along with physical, mental, intellectual, social, and psycho-social obstacles which make full participation in society difficult.

Crucially, Section 42 of the RPwD Act, 2016, mandates ‘government measures’ to ensure that all audio, print, and electronic media are accessible; that electronic media includes audio description, sign-language interpretation, and captions; and that everyday electronic goods and equipment follow ‘universal-design’ principles.

Are KYC details mandatory?

To curb illegal finance and money laundering, the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (and its 2005 Rules) mandates every bank and financial institution to verify client identities, maintain comprehensive records, and report relevant information to the Financial Intelligence Unit. Consequently, digital KYC verification has become indispensable for a wide range of essential services — from opening a bank, demat or trading account to accessing SIM cards, pension schemes or insurance policies. It also unlocks government benefits — from national scholarships to Aadhaar-linked ‘direct benefit transfers’.

Building on this mandate, the RBI’s 2016 Master Direction on Know Your Customer (KYC) rules prescribe a Customer Due Diligence (CDD) framework and, via Clause 18, introduces Video-based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP), enabling remote customer verification through secure, real-time video interaction. Customers can prove their identity online by clicking a selfie; signing on a paper physically or digitally; printing and rescanning, or clicking a photo of the filled-in form; verifying OTPs in 30 seconds; and reading a random code flashed on the screen.

How does it affect PwDs?

Acid-attack survivors left with permanent ‘facial disfigurement’ and severe eye burns — and individuals with complete blindness or low vision — have filed writ petitions seeking directions to respondents, including RBI, the Department of Telecommunications and SEBI, to devise alternative digital KYC, e-KYC and video-KYC methods to make remote identity checks inclusive for all PwDs as they face significant hurdles under the current framework.

Currently, each ‘regulated entity’ has to devise its own tests. Methods such as eye-blinking, reading a flashing code, or writing it down and taking a selfie exclude blind users. Despite clear mandates in the 2021 and 2022 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Accessibility Standards, most KYC apps and websites flout them — there is no screen-reader prompt for camera alignment, no audio cues for lighting or focus, and no way to differentiate document sides during upload. Additionally, thumb impressions, commonly used by visually impaired users, are not accepted as valid signatures, nor are PAN cards issued with them. Aadhaar-based biometric systems worsen the exclusion. Scanners and interfaces lack basic ‘accessibility’ features such as ‘text-to-speech’ or ‘self-verification’. As a result, blind applicants are frequently asked to appear in person or are rejected on vague technical grounds. The RBI’s Master Directions also bar any form of ‘prompting’ during KYC verification, leaving users without assistance.

How has the SC intervened?

The SC has consistently held that accessibility for PwDs is a ‘constitutional imperative’. In Rajive Raturi versus Union of India (2024), it ruled that ‘accessibility’ is central to the right to life, dignity, and freedom of movement under Article 21. During the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the court emphasised that digital registration must be fully accessible to prevent exclusion. In the instant case, the top court held that ‘digital barriers’ blatantly violate the rights of PwD under the UNCRPD and India’s disability laws. Anchoring its judgment in the principle of ‘substantive equality’, it directed that digital KYC guidelines be revised with ‘accessibility’ at their core. It flagged that the digital divide affects not just PwDs, but rural users, senior citizens, the economically disadvantaged, and linguistic minorities.

Relying on Articles 14, 15, 21, and 38, the court affirmed that ‘digital access’ is inseparable from the ‘right to life and liberty’. It mandated the state to ensure that all digital infrastructure is accessible, especially for marginalised communities.

Kartikey Singh is a lawyer based in New Delhi.

THE GIST

To curb illegal finance and money laundering, the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (and its 2005 Rules) mandates every bank and financial institution to verify client identities, maintain comprehensive records, and report relevant information to the Financial Intelligence Unit.

Methods such as eye-blinking, reading a flashing code, or writing it down and taking a selfie exclude blind users.

The SC has consistently held that accessibility for PwDs is a ‘constitutional imperative’.

Questions Based on above 

Q1. Consider the following statements regarding Article 21 of the Indian Constitution:

1. Article 21 guarantees the right to life and personal liberty.
2. The Supreme Court has interpreted Article 21 to include the right to digital access.
3. Article 21 includes the right to education and the right to die.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

A. 1 only
B. 1 and 2 only
C. 2 and 3 only
D. 1, 2 and 3

Answer: B. 1 and 2 only

Explanation:

• Article 21 guarantees the right to life and personal liberty (True).
• Recently, the Supreme Court reinterpreted Article 21 to include the right to digital access, especially for persons with disabilities (True).
• However, the right to die is not recognized under Article 21; only passive euthanasia is conditionally permitted. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.

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Q2. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 adopts which of the following approaches to disability?

A. Charity-based approach
B. Medical model of disability
C. Social-barrier model
D. Welfare model

Answer: C. Social-barrier model

Explanation:
The RPwD Act, 2016 adopts a social-barrier model, recognizing that disability arises not just from impairments but also from physical, social, and attitudinal barriers that hinder full participation in society.

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Q3. Section 42 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 deals with:

A. Reservation in jobs for PwDs
B. Accessibility of media and electronic goods
C. Educational rights for children with disabilities
D. Provision of aids and appliances

Answer: B. Accessibility of media and electronic goods

Explanation:
Section 42 mandates that audio, print, and electronic media be accessible and requires universal design for electronic goods to ensure usability for persons with disabilities.

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Q4. Which of the following is NOT a reason why current KYC frameworks are exclusionary for visually impaired individuals?

A. No screen-reader prompts for camera alignment
B. PAN cards do not support thumb impressions
C. Biometric systems accept all fingerprints and iris scans equally
D. Rules bar assistance or prompting during video-KYC

Answer: C. Biometric systems accept all fingerprints and iris scans equally

Explanation:

• Current biometric systems often lack accessibility features like audio guidance and are difficult to use for those with visual impairments.
• Thus, C is incorrect because these systems are not equally accessible. The other statements (A, B, D) are all valid issues raised in the article.

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Q5. Which of the following constitutional articles were invoked by the Supreme Court in recognizing the right to digital access for PwDs?

1. Article 14
2. Article 15
3. Article 21
4. Article 38

Select the correct answer using the code below:

A. 1 and 3 only
B. 1, 2 and 3 only
C. 1, 2, 3 and 4
D. 2 and 4 only

Answer: C. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Explanation:
The Supreme Court relied on:

• Article 14 (Equality before law),
• Article 15 (Prohibition of discrimination),
• Article 21 (Right to life and liberty), and
• Article 38 (Directive Principles for promoting welfare of people)
  to uphold digital accessibility as a constitutional right.

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Q6. What was the Supreme Court’s primary reasoning for directing revision of the digital KYC guidelines?

A. To increase financial inclusion among all citizens
B. To reduce burden on telecom companies
C. To uphold substantive equality and accessibility for PwDs
D. To encourage private sector innovation in biometric systems

Answer: C. To uphold substantive equality and accessibility for PwDs

Explanation:
The Court found that the current digital KYC system excludes PwDs, violating the principle of substantive equality. It directed that accessibility must be at the core of digital infrastructure.