Home / Crime and Justice / Kerala HC grants guardianship rights for Down Syndrome
Kerala HC grants guardianship rights for Down Syndrome
4 Jun
Summary
- Down Syndrome is now covered under disability welfare act.
- Court orders reconsideration of guardianship plea.
- Guardianship applications cannot be rejected arbitrarily.
The Kerala High Court has declared that persons with Down Syndrome are eligible for protections under the National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999. This landmark decision overturned a previous rejection of a father's request to be appointed legal guardian for his adult daughter who has Down Syndrome.
Justice C S Dias clarified that Down Syndrome's absence from the statute's specific list of disabilities does not preclude individuals from receiving statutory protections. The court found the rejection of the father's plea to be arbitrary and lacking proper procedural adherence. It emphasized that applications require a thorough assessment and determination of the need for a guardian.
The High Court noted that medical literature, including the IAP Handbook of Development and Behavioural Pediatrics, identifies Down syndrome as a common cause of intellectual disability. Disability certificates confirming the daughter's intellectual disability also supported this conclusion. Consequently, the court quashed the prior communication and ordered the district collector to reconsider the guardianship application within three months.
