Team  SoOLEGAL

The Supreme Court of India Issued Directions for Rehabilitation Of Cured Mental Patients

Team SoOLEGAL 5 Mar 2019 4:03pm

The Supreme Court of India Issued Directions for Rehabilitation Of Cured Mental Patients

Recently some directives have been issued by The Supreme Court of India for rehabilitation of those who are cured of mental illness but still suffering in asylums because their families still don’t want them to come back home.

An order was issued in July 2017, by the Supreme Court emphasizing the need for setting up rehabilitation homes for persons

·        Living with mental illnesses who have been cured;

·        Who do not need further hospitalization;

·        Who are homeless;

·        Who are not accepted by their families

The 2 Judge bench including Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta considered these Contempt petitions that were initiated on the ground that there was non-compliance by some of the State Governments and the Union Territories.

A note was submitted by the Union of India in which there were set of guidelines containing an enabling framework for State Governments and Union Territories in ensuring the setting up of 'Halfway Homes' and 'Long Stay Homes' for de-institutionalized persons. These guidelines specifically considered that the State Governments and the Union Territories must expand their existing Homes or construct new Homes at their own cost. Alternatively, it suggested that the State Governments and the Union Territories can engage NGOs within their jurisdiction to set up rehabilitation Homes or expand existing Homes.

The bench observed that "In our view, both approaches can be complementary. Besides the State Governments setting up their own Homes, their efforts can be supplemented by ensuring that accredited NGOs with a proven track record are encouraged to take the benefit of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme by seeking financial assistance, as envisaged."

The bench further added and directed the Centre to verify the status of compliance from each of the State Governments and the Union Territories and require each of them to lay down a road map to ensure that necessary infrastructure is set up in the form of 'Halfway Homes' or, as the case may be, institutional arrangements for rehabilitation of long-stay patients for whom institutionalized stay in a hospital environment is no longer necessary. A time schedule for implementation should be chalked out. Following directives were issued:

·        All the State Governments and the Union Territories shall submit full data to the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, within a period of one month from today on the status of compliance and on the facilities for rehabilitation of de-institutionalized persons who have been treated for mental illnesses;

·        The data shall specifically incorporate a road map by each State Government and the Union Territory for setting up 'Halfway Homes' within their respective territories and for ensuring that due publicity is given to the guidelines issued by the Union of India to facilitate accredited NGOs taking the benefit of the Scheme;

·        On the basis of the data which is furnished by the State Governments and the Union Territories, the Union of India shall submit a further report to this Court in regard to the steps necessary to be taken by each State and Union Territory for due compliance with the earlier directions issued by this Court and with the present directions;

·        The Union of India should suggest a road map with regard to each State Government and Union Territory. The report shall be circulated to all the States and the Union Territories which would be heard by this Court when final directions are issued for compliance.

·        When a meeting is convened by the Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, it shall be attended by all the Secretaries of the corresponding departments of the State Governments/Union Territories. The meeting may be chaired by the senior amongst the Secretaries in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment;

·        Any default on the part of the State Governments and the Union Territories to cooperate with the Union of India and to submit a road map and data in terms of the present order shall invite serious 




Tagged: mentalpatients   supremecourt   assylum   rehabilation   directives   unionterritoryand stategovernment  
Did you find this write up useful? YES 0 NO 0
×

C2RMTo Know More

Something Awesome Is In The Work

0

DAYS

0

HOURS

0

MINUTES

0

SECONDS

Sign-up and we will notify you of our launch.
We’ll also give some discount for your effort :)

* We won’t use your email for spam, just to notify you of our launch.
×

SAARTHTo Know More

Launching Soon : SAARTH, your complete client, case, practise & document management SAAS application with direct client chat feature.

If you want to know more give us a Call at :+91 98109 29455 or Mail info@soolegal.com