Mental Health Laws in India

 MENTAL HEALTH LAWS IN INDIA

Our legal system in ancient India had a rich history but now the country’s modern judicial system is widely based on the British System and also it is based on English Common Law. This is a system of law based on recorded judicial precedents. Earlier mental health laws were mainly all about the custodial aspects of people with the mental illness and the safety of the society at large. Indian laws also deal with the determination of society’s competence, diminished obligation and welfare. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was introduced in 2006, marking a remarkable change from social care problems to human rights considerations in terms of disabilities that included disability due to mental illness. The assumption of legal capacity, equality and dignity is the base for new paradigm. After India’s ratification of the Convention in the year 2008, it became compulsory for all disability laws to be amended in order to introduce them into line with the UNCRPD. The Mental Health Act 1987 and the individuals with Disability Act 1995 are also considered and draught bills have been drawn up. Groups of human rights advocates are calling for legal capacity protections for everyone with mental illness in absolute terms. Physicians on the other hand are in favour of maintaining protections in specific cases for mandatory hospitalisation.

Indian Legal Structures apply to India’s operating system of law. There was a different tradition of law in ancient times. This had a traditional independent school of legal theory and practice. In India, law has an illustrious history as matter of religious prescriptions and philosophical discourses. The Arthashastra from 400 BC and the Manusmriti from 100 AD were prominent treatises in India, texts considered to be governing legal guidelines.

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA:

Article 21 of the Constitution of India states that no person shall be deprived of his or her life or personal liberty, except in accordance with the procedures laid down by law. 

Under this article, the right to life and personal freedom requires “provides for reading , writing, and expressing oneself in different ways, freely travelling, mixing and coming with fellow human beings”.

An individual is not fit for registration in an electoral roll if he/she is of unsound mind and  stands so declared by a competent court, according to the Representation of People Act, 1950 (sec 16). Therefore, under the Constitution, a person who is disqualified cannot hold public offices, such as President, Vice-President, Ministers or Member of Parliament and State Legislatures.

INDIAN LAWS REGULATING TREATMENT OF PERSONS WITH MWNTAL DISORDERS

During the time of PMI therapy, the relationship between psychiatry and legislation most frequently comes into play. PMI therapy also has the curtailments of psychiatric patients’ personal liberty. Most nations have laws that cover the care of psychiatric patients. On the other hand, different treatises in Ayurveda there are detailed explanations of different kinds of mental disorders, the treatment of mentally ill people in asylums in India is a British Invention. Following the British Crown’s takeover of Indian government in the year 1858, there were many laws passed in rapid succession to govern the care and treatment of people who are mentally ill in British India. The laws are as follows:

● The Lunacy (Supreme Courts) Act, 1858

● The Lunacy (District Courts) Act, 1858

● The Indian Lunatic Asylum Act, 1858 (with amendments passed in 1886 and 1889)

● The Military Lunatic Acts, 1877.

These were the acts that guided for establishment of mental asylums and the admission of mental patients. During that period in India, the British scene that occurred in the middle of the 19th century acted as the history of lunacy legislation. Naturally the various acts of the year 1858 reflected the legalistic system for mentally ill management.

CONCLUSION

Necessary legal changes have been argued with respect to the PMI in Indian Legal System. The influence of the British is clearly evident as most of the laws are neither drafted during the colonial era or their origin can be tracked to the era. PMI Laws are currently at a crossroads because most of them are being updated to shape them into harmony with UNCRPD-2006