With the goal of creating humane environments for cured and under-treated mental health patients, the Supreme Court (SC) recently expressed serious concern over the alleged violations of human rights of women in mental health institutions like tonsuring and lack of basic health care and privacy. The court asked the Centre to immediately take up the issue with the States and Union Territories (UTs) to alleviate these problems. It also directed all the States and UTs to ensure time-bound Covid-19 vaccination of all inmates lodged in mental health institutions along with health care workers and others.
Advocate Gaurav Bansal, who has filed an interlocutory application, has highlighted that women are facing problems like lack of sanitary napkins, lack of privacy, tonsuring, lack of issuance of identity cards (like UIDAI / Aadhar Card ), lack of issuance of disability certificates and lack of issuance of disability pension. Bansal also pointed out that women institutionalised in mental health establishments (for treatment or rehabilitation purposes) are not allowed to keep their children with them as there are no separate wards for mothers and children in several government-run mental health establishments.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli took note of this submission and said that based on certain research studies conducted in 2016 by The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and National Commission for Women in 2020, it has been noted that women who are institutionalised in government-run mental health establishments across the country face several indignities and violation of human rights. “The issues which have been flagged in the interlocutory application are of serious concern. We direct that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment shall strictly raise each of the concerns which have been expressed in the research studies and have been formulated with the States/UTs in the course of monthly monitoring that has been directed”, the bench said. SC directed that necessary directions shall be issued for taking steps to ensure that the problems which have been highlighted in the study are alleviated by the state governments and UTs by taking necessary measures.