Maharashtra: Disabled woman carried to second floor to get married as Registrar's office had no lift; alleges officials did not come down

Disabled woman Virali Modi, who tied the knot on Monday, October 16 in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed that the government officers in the Registrar's Office did not come to the ground floor to take her signatures on the documents.

Mumbai (Maharashtra): In a shocking development, a disabled woman from Maharashtra had to be carried up to the second floor of the Registrar's Office here to get married as the office building did not have any lift.

Virali Modi, who tied the knot on Monday, October 16 in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, further claimed that the government officers in the Registrar's Office did not come to the ground floor to take her signatures on the documents.

The incident took place at Khar in suburban Mumbai. "PLEASE RT! I am disabled and I got married at the Registrars Office at Khar Mumbai on 16/10/23. The office was on the 2nd floor WITHOUT a lift. They wouldn’t come downstairs for the signatures and I had to be carried up two flights of stairs to get married (sic)," Virali posted on X.

"The stairs were extremely steep and the railings were loose and rusty. No one even offered to help nor did they make any kind of accommodations for me, even though I had informed my agent of my disability prior to the appointment," she further said. Virali asked the Maharashtra government and the Centre on what happened to the Accessible India campaign.

"How is this fair? What happened to the Accessible India campaign? Just because I’m a wheelchair user, do I not have the right to get married to someone I love? What if someone had slipped and what if I had fallen on my wedding day? Who is responsible?" Virali questioned.

Virali stressed that she was disheartened that the citizens of her country could not accommodate her disability. "I am disheartened that my country’s government and citizens cannot accommodate to my disability. My faith in humanity has been destroyed by this ordeal. I am not a piece of luggage that needs to be carried up two floors. I am a human being and my rights matter! (sic)," she added.

"My country should accommodate to my needs and the needs of millions of disabled citizens. This is extremely unfair, unprecedented, and unexpected. My rights matter! This was a government building and the people in charge of running this country should lead from the front," she concluded and tagged Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's office, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and others.