India, Nov. 28 -- Reiterating the need for a stringent law to protect the dignity of the disabled, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to consider framing a statute to make derogatory remarks ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders a penal offence on the lines of the SC-ST Act.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, criminalises casteist slur, acts of discrimination, humiliation, and violence against the members of SCs and STs and makes offences non-bailable.

"Why can't you bring a stringent law on the lines of the SC-ST Act, which criminalises casteist remarks - there is punishment if you demean them," a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joy...