The mother of a judicial aspirant from Madhya Pradesh, never realised the impact of her letter as a petition to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India would create. In reality, her letter resonated with many other similarly situated aspirants who also through separate ways approached the Apex Court.. And the Hon’ble Supreme Court with its landmark judgement in Re: Recruitment of visually impaired in judicial services, (2025 SCC OnLine SC 481), has given hope to the future visually impaired aspirants of this country to join the Judicial Services in March 2025.
Fast-forward to 11 months, the Kerala Judicial Service has been able to add another feather to its cap, as Ms. Thanya Nathan, is set to be Ms. Thanya Nathan is set to be the first visually challenged Judge in Kerala.
Not a stranger to accomplishments, the 24 year old first rank holder in LLB from Kannur University, is a practising advocate from Taliparamba, Kannur. Using Braille scripts and screen reading technology, Ms. Thanya was able to prepare for her exams.
Even though there may be hurdles due to lack of infrastructural amenities, her win will have a ripple effect in the Judicial Service. Specifically stating that “Visually impaired candidates cannot be said to be ‘not suitable for judicial service and they are eligible to participate in selection for posts in judicial service”, the Judgment also echoed on the need to ensure rights based affirmative action and development of infrastructure to accomodate persons with disabilities.
