Teen artist seeks prosthesis under RTE

Sitting in his poorly-lit, one-room house in old Delhi's Sadar Bazar area, 15-year-old Ritik Kohli aspires to become an artist. His humble circumstances, however, are least of his worries. For Kohli was born with a rare medical condition — congenital amputation. As a result, both his arms are deformed.

But the zealous teen has decided not to let adversity trample his dreams. Ritik has knocked on court's door, seeking prosthetic limbs under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and the Disability Act from the state government.

Under the RTE Act, students with special needs are entitled to government aid for their medical and educational needs. According to senior lawyer Ashok Agarwal, this will be the first case of its kind."This will be the first time that a student is seeking enforcement of his RTE as well as the disability right," he said.

"Even the Supreme Court had upheld the RTE Act in 2011 and made it clear that the government has to remove all obstacles coming in between a child and his right to quality education," Agarwal added.

Ritik was born to Ramwati and Mahendra Kumar, a daily-wage labourer, in 2002. "When I saw him for the first time, my world turned upside down. I could not believe that my child will have to live his entire life with deformed limbs,"said Ramwati, who had to give up her work as a domestic help after Ritik's birth. He is third of her three children.

"For the last 15 years, I have been washing and feeding him, changing his clothes, and dropping and picking him from school. I am tired now," she said. For the last eight years, the family has also been making rounds of private as well as government doctors, hoping for a cure to his condition.

"We have been told that Ritik can't be operated upon. A surgery will damage his nervous system and affect the functioning of his brain. They told us that prosthetic limbs is our only resort and will cost more than Rs 15 lakh. We can't afford that," Ramwati said.

There has, however, been one silver lining. Over the years, Kohli has learned creating beautiful portraits with his feet."I started practicing drawing when I was in Class V. Gradually, I learned making decent sketches,"he said, while proudly showing a sketch of lord Shiva."I love to make pictures of lord Shiva as I draw strength from them," he added. "I want to pursue higher education, play cricket, and ride bicycle like normal children. I don't want to bother my mother and sister anymore," he added.

"We have come to know that we can seek government help under the RTE and Disability Acts. We are going to file a petition in Delhi High Court," Ramwati said.