Advocate Sarah Sunny, India's only practicing deaf lawyer recounts her journey

"It took us so long for us to make this happen. This should have happened long ago," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said on Tuesday, days after the Supreme Court of India witnessed, for the first time ever, an interpreter translating proceedings for an advocate with hearing impairment..On September 22, as lawyers hustled to make urgent mentionings on a busy miscellaneous day, Advocate Sanchita Ain had an unusual request:"Milord, a lawyer who is deaf is appearing in item 37. Can an interpreter be allowed to join the proceedings so that she can attend the hearing?"CJI Chandrachud allowed the request without any hesitation..What followed not only enabled Advocate Sarah Sunny to understand the proceedings, but also left senior lawyers amazed at the speed at which the hearing was being interpreted in sign language. As the day concluded, the question that remained was whether this process could be mainstreamed to allow lawyers with hearing impairment appear and argue cases more frequently..Bar & Bench's Debayan Roy caught up with Sunny to chronicle her journey in the legal profession thus far and discuss what changes she suggests to make court proceedings more accessible to lawyers and litigants with disabilities..Debayan Roy (DR): It must have been a long and difficult journey into the profession of law. Can you recount the challenges you faced as a legal practitioner?.Sarah Sunny (SS): I qualified as an advocate during COVID. I wanted to be part of a law firm and I was initially running from pillar to post for that. It took a pretty long time for that to happen. Being a lip-reading deaf person, I always used my voice for communication right from my childhood. While representing cases before the judges, it was a challenge for them to understand my speech. So when they could not follow me, I used to write and show them. There was no interpreting facility available in the courts which could have made my work more easier. That was a challenge..DR: Are Indian courts equipped to accommodate lawyers with special needs?.SS: To my understanding, Indian courts are not fully equipped with facilities for people with special needs. Now that the Supreme Court has given accessibility to deaf lawyers for interpretation facility, other courts too will follow it. Social organisations dedicated to good causes have to highlight such issues..DR: How can interpreters be mainstreamed into court hearings?.SS: Nowadays, interpreting is a profession and it can be mainstreamed. However, when it comes to law and courts, interpreters would require some kind of legal knowledge..DR: Do you believe that some day, there will many disabled lawyers appearing in courts? What other facilities, apart from interpreters, are required to make this a reality?.SS: Yes, there is a roadmap for specially-abled lawyers. Being the largest democracy with such a huge population, our country has diverse disability issues which have to be dealt with. The judiciary should support such noble causes and also bat for timely modification of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act or new laws..DR: Is legal education in the country disabled-friendly?.SS: It should not be the case of being friendly or not. It is one's desire to take up such a challenge and overcome such special needs and make it friendly. Yes, of course, if there is an interpreting facility available in a law college for a person with hearing impairment or a Braille support for a visually challenged person, it will be beneficial. I feel we need to travel a long way to achieve such things in the country.The CJI has paved the way for breaking the glass ceiling!.We also spoke to Saurav Roychowdhury, who interpreted the proceedings in Supreme Court for Sunny. He has now been roped in by the Delhi High Court to help litigants with hearing impairment..DR: How did you come into this field?.Saurav Roychowdhury (SR): So, we would have to go back to 2011. There is this organisation called the Noida Deaf Society. They used to have classes for deaf children. There were three deaf children, but there was no one to teach sign language. 90 per cent of deaf children are born to parents who can hear. I happened to meet Dr Anand Chandani, who taught at the only liberal arts college for the deaf in Washington. He was the one who hosted the interpreter's meet. That is where I met Saudamini Pethe, who was the first deaf Indian to pass the bar exam. Unfortunately, she passed away in April 2023. I had interpreted with her for four years during her LL.B. - her scholarship had money for accessibility.Then we started getting cases in Delhi in family courts etc. The courts do not appoint an interpreter, the client has to. Most of the time, I am the only one interpreting for my client, for the judge. The amount for all of this is being paid by the deaf litigant, who has to pay the lawyer and pay someone else if I am not available. To talk to the lawyer also, they need an interpreter. .DR: What are the challenges you have faced while interpreting in court matters?.SR: The lawyer should provide for interpreters, but that is not the case. Once a mediator judge in Delhi asked me not to interpret. She said, first listen to me, then interpret. She was getting very annoyed...So, awareness is lacking. There is no place to even stand for the interpreter. Only after talking to the Registry, we were allowed to stand right next to the lawyers...We were actually allowed that only in the High Court.Can you imagine - we have only 400-500 interpreters. There is only one course, which is a two-year basic program. So everyone is doing everything. But with more and more people doing LL.B., it opened up an opportunity for us to interpret for the legal profession. During moots, Saudamini had to practice for herself as well as for the interpreters, etc.The High Court set a precedent and paid us by the hour. They ensured we were paid what we deserved. Because, usually the hearings go on the whole day right? And deaf people have to even pay their lawyer. They do not have good education, there are so many dropouts because they do not have sign language access. Learning sign language takes time. For example, COVID is a new word, and there are many news words that build. So a lot of new terminologies come up. When deaf people get exposure to these linguistic developments, they also develop. If they are not in schools and colleges, when I interpret for them, they may not have that level of understanding. Most deaf people have not been given proper education, which affects us as interpreters. We interpret how we understand, but for the deaf, because of the delay and discrimination, they are not able to explain and understand..DR: How do you think courts can provide a better space for specially-abled lawyers to attend hearings?.SR: First, courts can appoint interpreters, so that deaf people are not burdened. But there also needs to be an understanding because all interpreters will not know the law. So, they need to be vetted. Deaf organisations need to be consulted. We need interpreters who can tell their clients about the dates of their cases.Next is live captions. There are deaf people who want to follow everything. So live subtitling needs to be ensured, and fees have to be taken care of..DR: In the Supreme Court, the Solicitor General was surprised at your speed. And the CJI mentioned you in a speech about how you were the interpreter for the entire session. Does it get overwhelming?.SR: We need a team so we can switch every 30 minutes. Because it is a full-day thing, right? So it depends on whether a court wants everything to be interpreted or just proceedings that involve the deaf. There has to be an alignment.All people should learn about sign language. Because other disabilities do not have a language barrier, but being deaf does. Schools should have lessons for the hearing-enabled to learn sign language. That would enable a deaf person to be more involved. There is a lack of awareness within the community. If the divide lessens, it would be really good.