Delhi High Court Issues Notice To Zee Over ZEE5 Accessibility For Visually Impaired
The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited following a petition alleging that its OTT platform, ZEE5, is inaccessible to visually challenged individuals, preventing them from accessing live coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Hearing the plea on July 2, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma also directed the Central government to file its response to the petition within two weeks.
The petition was filed by disability rights lawyer Rahul Bajaj through advocates Amritesh Mishra, Sarah, and Amar Jain. The petitioner argued that he was unable to independently access ZEE5 to follow the football tournament, for which the platform holds exclusive streaming rights in India.
According to the plea, the ZEE5 streaming application and website are inaccessible to people who are blind or have low vision and rely on screen-reading technologies such as TalkBack, VoiceOver, and Voice Assistant. The petition highlights that all digital platforms operating in the Indian market have a continuing statutory obligation to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities.
The petitioner stated that the ZEE5 platform is inaccessible right at the threshold. Purchasing a subscription presents a serious challenge due to unlabelled buttons and an interface that cannot be meaningfully navigated using a screen reader.
Even if a user manages to obtain a subscription, the plea alleges that the platform contains pervasive barriers. These include wrongly labelled controls, unstable focus, automatic cursor movement, an inaccessible media player, poor content discovery, and dynamic interface behaviour that disrupts assistive technology.
The plea cited the Supreme Court's ruling in the Pragya Prasun v. Union of India case, which held that the right to digital access is an integral facet of the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The petitioner clarified that he is not seeking any modification to the broadcast of the FIFA World Cup itself, as he is satisfied with the audio commentary being offered. Instead, his grievance is that the platform itself remains inaccessible, preventing blind users from independently accessing that commentary.
