Supreme Court Interventions - Human Rights of Persons with Mental Illness

Supreme Court - Human Rights of Persons with Mental Illness
Mental hospitals in India, as elsewhere in the world, have played an important role in the care of persons with mental illness. Since their inception, they have both been decried for gross violations of human rights and dignity as well as lauded as places of refuge and care for persons turned away by the communities. In a country where community interventions for mental health care are still fragmentary, the mental hospital still continues to be a relevant and legitimate locus of care along with other limited resources available for the care of persons with mental illness outside of the family. In India, positive changes in the infrastructure and resourcing of mental hospitals, reductions in involuntary admissions, and improvements in facilities have largely occurred through judicial interventions. Recent pilot interventions for the rehabilitation of long-stay patients point towards the need to develop rehabilitation and community facilities for persons with severe mental illness.
Judicial intervention in mental health can be traced back initially as responses to public interest litigation (PIL) to the Supreme Court of India that occurred over the last three decades. The first of these can be traced back to the 1980s, and concerned the ‘inhuman treatment of inmates’ of a protection home in Agra. This was followed by a slew of PILs concerning mentally ill prisoners languishing in jails, the state of the public Shahdara Mental Hospital in Delhi and the detention of abandoned children and those with mental retardation ‘in jails for safe custody’. The responses from the Supreme Court included orders for monitoring of the home, direction to the NHRC to monitor specific mental hospitals, declaration of the keeping of mentally ill in jails as illegal and unconstitutional and against Articles 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) and 22 (protection against arrest and detention in certain cases) of the Indian constitution.
Although the NHRC Report of 1999 could be perceived as a ‘defining moment’ in improving mental health care, the findings may have gathered dust but for the Erwadi tragedy, a fire that engulfed mentally ill persons who had been chained and kept in confinement in a faith-based institution in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in 2001. A PIL followed soon after. The apex court directed the central government to conduct a survey on an all-India basis to ascertain if the NHRC recommendations were being followed. The court directed states which did not have mental hospitals to set up mental hospitals to serve their constituents. As a result, new state psychiatric hospitals were set up in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The Supreme Court concerning the management of mental hospitals decided the following cases
1. In B.R. Kapoor v. Union of India and PUCL v. Union of India, both relating to the functioning of the hospitals for mental diseases, Shahdara, Delhi.
2. R.C. Narayan v. State of Bihar and the order dated 11.11.97 the case concerning the Ranchi Mental Asylum.
3. Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee v. State of MP , where the Supreme Court intervened to improve the working of the Gwalior Mental Asylum.
A perusal of the above referred cases clearly revel that until recently many mentally ill persons were consigned to jails and those living in mental health institutions were no better off, as the conditions both in prisons and in mental institutions were far below the stipulated standards. Sheela Barse v. Union of India concerned the detention of non-criminal mentally ill persons in the jails of West Bersal. The appalling conditions in which they were held was noted by the Supreme Court which observed that admission of non-criminal mentally ill persons to jails is illegal and unconstitutional.
Similarly in Chandan Kumar v. State of West Bersal, the Supreme Court heard of the inhuman conditions in which mentally ill persons were held in mental hospital at mankaundi in the District of Hooghli. The Court denounced this practice and ordered the cessation of the practice of tying up the patients who wee unruly or not physically controllable with iron chains and ordered medical treatment for these patients.
Overall, the Supreme Court of India has played a proactive role in safeguarding the human rights of persons with mental illness. Its interventions have not only led to the development of a more rights-based legal framework but have also raised awareness about the importance of respecting the dignity and autonomy of individuals with mental health conditions in all aspects of society.

[@harshgupta5176]

Kindly make a video on the employment of Mentally ill people in the light of the RPWD Act 2016 section 34 provided reservations to person with mental illness which is not implemented in group A services by DOP&T, UPSC etc. Identification of the post for person with mental illness is not scientifically did by Central Government in 2021. Can we file case against Central Government directly in Supreme Court. Kindly guide me. Please please

[@SureshBadaMath]

Please contact Advocate Gurav Bhansal in Delhi. He is fighting cases regarding rights of persons with mental illness

[@kamalahamed8586]

Very good

[@SureshBadaMath]

Thank you very much Please find complete access to copyrighted educational videos on Mental health is available on - linktr.ee/sureshbadamath

[@vettinageswararao435]

Sir ,if mental ill person is employee he is not eligible for PWD allowences,is it true he might face risk in job such that he might loose job...

[@SureshBadaMath]

Yes Disability pension is given for not being able to get job. If a person is able to work or get salary, disability pension is not provided

[@gladysoliviakoduruiiidroll4420]

Sir,can a govt employee suffering from schizophrenia be terminated if found that he is mentally unfit? Will he lose his job if we submit a certificate from psychiatric hospital ?

[@sahoobabul5957]

I think sir you are the only one who care for the mentality ill people 😢

[@meenamutha6011]

Thanks for giving such a informative details talk

[@aurelcruz4115]

Thank you sir as always updating us

[@SureshBadaMath]

All the best

[@vennelagmc6690]

Sir,,can core beliefs be changed

[@bablusharma-dc5ft]

As always very detailed and informative video. Thank you sir for educating us.

[@SureshBadaMath]

Welcome

[@motivationoflife2593]

SIR CAN U share the PPT