How do amputees point?
People who have lost one or both arms have the same civil rights as everyone else, have the same needs to transact in normal daily life and social areas, and are still issued ID cards and citizen identification cards.
According to regulations, there are many administrative and judicial documents that citizens must sign or fingerprint. In many cases, the person whose name is on the document must fingerprint multiple fingers, such as the ID card, citizen identification card, or when notarizing transaction documents or mortgages for bank loans.
That causes no small difficulty for those who have lost an arm, and there are no regulations for people who have lost both arms.
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| These leprosy patients all have lost all their fingers. Currently, there are no regulations for these people when carrying out paperwork that requires fingerprints - Photo: PSNGÂN |
"Giving up" with people with two amputated arms
In terms of law, a person's will expressed on a document or paper is usually in the form of writing or signature. In case of not being able to sign, the mark is only to record the will on the document of an individual. The mark is only sometimes a substitute for signing but there are also cases where it is simultaneous with signing.
Ms. Nguyen Bich Thuy - an expert from the Justice Department of Dien Khanh district - said that while on duty at the district's "one-stop shop" department, she received a request for guidance from a man who had lost a hand and could not sign or point.
After checking and learning, Ms. Thuy advised the Justice Department of Dien Khanh district to respond and guide this citizen.
According to the 2014 Notary Law, the fingerprint can replace the signature in cases where the person requesting the notarization, the witness, or the interpreter cannot sign due to disability or not knowing how to sign. The fingerprint, according to general regulations, is the right index finger. However, for people who have lost a finger, the Justice Department of Dien Khanh district believes that if the right hand is lost, the fingerprint can be used with the index finger of the left hand. If the index finger of the left hand is still unable to fingerprint, the fingerprint can be used with another finger. It must be clearly stated which finger and which hand the fingerprint is used with.
The Law on Notarization also clearly states that fingerprinting can be performed simultaneously with signing in the following cases: notarization of wills, notarization at the request of the person requesting notarization, and the notary finds it necessary to protect the rights of the person requesting notarization.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Huong - Head of the Central Notary Office (Nha Trang), when making transactions, notaries always require identification documents and ID cards of the people involved. The requirement to take fingerprints when notarizing is to check and compare with fingerprints in the ID card to determine whether the correct person and property owner are named in those documents.
For those who have lost both arms and fingers, where can they get fingerprints for identification and verification? In response to this question, Ms. Thuy and Ms. Huong both said that they did not know the specific regulations on how to resolve this.
Still able to make ID
According to Lieutenant Colonel Cao Thi Doan - Deputy Head of the Administrative Police Department for Social Order (PC64) of Khanh Hoa Provincial Police, people who have lost one or both arms have the same civil rights as everyone else, and have the need to transact in normal daily life and social areas.
The general rule when making an ID card is that the application file (file) clearly states that all 10 fingerprints must be taken, while the ID card states that fingerprints must be taken from both the left and right index fingers.
Lieutenant Colonel Doan added that it must be done this way because normally when working, holding and grasping activities, people often use and leave fingerprints of the index fingers, so the above regulation is required.
In the case of amputated fingers or index fingers, according to Lieutenant Colonel Doan, when making an ID card, in the application form and on the ID card, a cross must be marked in the box specifying the missing finger print.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Tuan Anh - Deputy Head of the General Staff Team PC64, Khanh Hoa Provincial Police - said that in reality, there are many people who have lost fingers or index fingers but are still able to get ID cards.
In these cases, the ID card does not have the index finger fingerprint but still records the individual's identification mark.
