2024-03-21 12:02:46
Kanagawa Prefectural Police police car
On the 21st, the Yokohama District Court (presiding judge Mariko Takatori) ruled on the 21st in a lawsuit in which a visually impaired couple sought compensation from the prefecture for a total of 2.2 million yen, alleging that Kanagawa Prefectural Police officers entered their apartment without consent. The prefectural government partially accepted the claim and ordered the prefecture to pay 275,000 yen, citing negligence in failing to provide reasonable accommodation as stipulated by the Act on the Elimination of Discrimination. According to the plaintiff’s lawyer, this is the first judgment in the country to recognize liability under the National Reparation Act on the basis of a violation of the duty of reasonable accommodation in connection with an administrative response.
According to the ruling, five police officers from the Isogo Police Station of the prefectural police went to the couple’s apartment in Yokohama’s Isogo Ward late at night on October 9, 2019, after receiving reports of yelling and other issues. At first, the wife, who has severe amblyopia, answered questions about her duties at the front door, but when her completely blind husband asked her to enter the front door out of consideration for the surrounding residents, four police officers entered the room.
◆ “The fear caused by not being able to see was not fully acknowledged.”
Presiding Judge Takatori pointed out that the couple was allowed to enter the room only up to the entrance, and did not include their room. The police officer said he knew the two people were visually impaired, and in light of the purpose of the Act to Eliminate Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, “they should have explicitly confirmed which areas they were allowed to enter.” . The defendant’s failure to inform her husband, who responded to her in her underwear, of the presence of a female police officer was deemed to be a failure to provide reasonable accommodation under the Act, and “severely harmed the plaintiff’s sense of shame and violated her personal rights.” “I did,” he concluded.
After the verdict, the couple said in an interview, “We’re glad that the illegality of trespassing was recognized, but the fear caused by not being able to see was not fully recognized.”
Akito Kato, head of the prefectural police’s inspector general’s office, commented, “We are disappointed that some of the allegations were not accepted.We will take appropriate action after considering the content of the ruling.” (Manako Morita)
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