Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: An 18-year-old visually impaired girl from Beed, initially declared unfit to study medicine, has secured an MBBS seat after a legal battle in the Bombay High Court. The court’s intervention led to a fresh functional assessment that found her competent to pursue medical education.
She scored 345 out of 720 in NEET-UG 2026 and secured an All-India OBC-NCL PwBD rank of 796. Her medical aspirations, however, hit a roadblock on Aug 10.
The Medical Assessment Board at Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai, declared her “ineligible for pursuing medical education”. Syeda Musfira Fatema Rafiuddin has now been admitted to Govt Medical College, Sangli-Miraj. Musfira has congenital low vision caused by albinism, nystagmus and amblyopia. It cited her visual condition and dependence on low-vision assistive devices.
Yaseen relied on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and the Supreme Court judgment in Omkar Ramchandra Gond v Union of India. With NEET counselling underway, HC on Sept 22 directed Musfira to approach the appellate forum at Madras Medical College, Chennai, for an urgent reassessment. After evaluating her functional ability with low-vision aids, the appellate forum on Sept 25 declared her eligible and competent to pursue medical education under the PwBD category. Yaseen approached the high court again on Sept 28. On Oct 1, Yaseen informed the high court that Musfira had secured admission.
Her functional ability, rather than merely her diagnosis, should, therefore, have been assessed, he submitted. Stay updated with the latest Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar news. Her counsel, advocate Sayyed Tauseef Yaseen, argued before a division bench of Justice Nitin B Suryawanshi and Justice Abasaheb D Shinde that the medical board had merely recorded her diagnosis. It had not conducted a functional or task-based assessment or considered reasonable accommodation, he submitted. He argued that Musfira had already demonstrated her ability by competing in a rigorous national-level examination with prescribed magnifying aids. A technical issue on the counselling portal then prevented Musfira from opting for the PwBD category. The authorities subsequently undertook to reopen the registration window for Musfira and facilitate her participation in the All-India and state counselling processes. She was subsequently allotted an MBBS seat at Govt Medical College, Sangli-Miraj, and granted admission. The bench then disposed of her petition as infructuous. Download the TOI App.
Musfira challenged the decision before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court.