Parliament Parliament of India
Mental health bill creates central and state mental health authorities
This Bill aims to provide mental health care and services for persons with mental illness while protecting, promoting, and fulfilling their rights during the delivery of such care.
It seeks to align Indian laws with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which India ratified in 2007.
Who it concerns: The Bill applies to persons with mental illness, their care-givers, families, and nominated representatives. It also regulates mental health establishments (hospitals and clinics), medical practitioners, clinical psychologists, police officers, Magistrates, and the Central and State Governments responsible for mental health administration.
What the bill does
- Establishment of a Central Mental Health Authority and State Mental Health Authorities to oversee mental health services.
- Creation of a Mental Health Review Commission and Mental Health Review Boards to handle applications and appeals regarding admission and treatment.
- Introduction of 'Advance Directives,' allowing individuals to specify their preferences for future mental health treatment.
- Mandating the registration of mental health establishments and requiring them to maintain digital registers and display information.
- Defining rights for persons with mental illness, including the right to community living, protection from cruel treatment, confidentiality, and access to medical records.
- Setting rules for admission, treatment, and discharge, including limits on supported admission (up to 30 days without specific review) and restrictions on psychosurgery and restraints.
- Prescribing penalties for establishing or maintaining mental health establishments in violation of the Act and for contraventions of its rules.
Also in the document
- The Bill explicitly references the need to harmonize existing laws with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- It includes a provision for the presumption of mental illness in cases of attempted suicide by a person.
- The Bill contains a clause for the repeal and saving of previous laws, indicating it replaces or modifies earlier legislation on the subject.
- Specific provisions are made for States in the north-east and hill States.
Where this bill is now: Became law (Act)
How this was written
An AI model running on our own computer read the government document and wrote this summary. No person has checked it.
✓ Figures checked. Every number in this summary was found in the document by an automated check.
That check compares numbers only. It cannot confirm that the wording says what the document says — so the original document is always the authority.
The original document
Parliament of India — Bills (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha)
Bill / law · Ref. LIV · 8 Aug 2016
Read it here
Discussion
No one has discussed this document yet.