17 chained mentally ill people released from faith-based asylum, Centre informs SC

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 7

The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that 17 mentally ill people chained in a faith-based mental asylum in Uttar Pradesh had been released from a 'dargah' in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a Bench headed by Justice AK Sikri that the authorities had taken cognizance of the case and sent a team to the asylum.

"It is not a mental asylum. It appears to be a 'dargah'. There seems to be a belief that persons who are possessed can be cured by keeping them there. Persons are chained there so that they do not run away. There were 17 chained persons and they all have been released and are now with their families," Mehta said.

Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal had filed a PIL highlighting that persons with mental illness were chained in a faith-based mental asylum in Budaun in violation of the provisions of the Mental Health Care Act 2017. Referring to the National Mental Health Survey 2016, he had claimed that around 14 per cent Indians needed active mental health interventions and around 2 per cent were suffering from severe mental disorders. He had also sought a direction to all the states and UTs to start a programme to provide mental healthcare and treatment to persons with mental illness placed near or inside faith-based mental asylums.

Besides these, the PIL has sought direction to states and UTs to establish state mental health authority as also a fund as per the provisions of the Act.