Poonam Singh

For making it accessible for hearing and visually impaired audience, the Delhi High Court on Monday directed Yash Raj Films to develop subtitles, close captioning and audio description in Hindi for 'Pathaan' movie's OTT release and submit the same to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for a decision on re-certification by February 20.

The High Court directed that a decision on recertification of the film be taken by March 10.

A single-bench judge Justice Pratibha M. Singh was dealing with a petition filed by people with disabilities including a law student, lawyers and a disability rights activist seeking a direction to YRF, OTT paltforms and the government to make arrangements as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

Justice Singh observed that the petition raises very important concern about entertainment accessebility for the visually and hearing impaired people and the authorities should make sure that the content is available for them in accessible formats.

The court also noted that special measure will have to be taken to make sure that the persons with disabilities are not denied theatre experience.

The court listed the matter for next hearing on April 6.

Justice Singh also impleaded the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation, Film Producers Association and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as respondents in the matter.

The movie is set to release on Amazon Prime Video on April 25.

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