Inspector accused of asking complainant to prove disability

After having suffered throughout his life because of 60% disability on one of his legs, 34-year-old N. Logeswaran received a rude shock when he was accused of faking his disability to avail tax exemptions (Road tax and Excise Duty) for his car at the RTO office in Sholinganallur on Thursday.

“When I went to the office to register my new car as an ‘Invalid Carriage’, the Inspector decided to inspect me to ascertain whether I really had a disability despite submitting medical certificates stating that I am disabled,” said Mr. Logeswaran, sobbing over the phone.

The ordeal did not end with that. Mr. Logeswaran claimed that the inspector asked him to lift his trousers to check whether he was indeed disabled.

“He did this despite my submitting a certificate from a Doctor at the Government Rehabilitation Centre in K.K. Nagar, which he rejected saying that he wasn’t satisfied with the ‘seal’ . The official even wondered whether the certificate could have been ‘bought’ from a doctor,” says Mr. Logeswaran.

With the help of his friend, an RTI activist, he brought the issue to the notice of Regional Transport Officer Basker, who promised them that the registration would be finished on Friday morning.

Disability activist Smitha Sadasivan, who works with Vidya Sagar, said instances of the disabled being told to prove their disability is common in public places.