Gauhati HC grants Assam Government time till March for Mental Health Review Boards at Prisons

The Gauhati High Court has given the Assam government until March to ensure that mental health review boards and committees are effectively monitoring the mental health conditions of inmates in jails.

While hearing a public interest litigation, a division bench of Chief Justice RM Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia directed the state government to make all necessary arrangements for the boards to begin functioning on April 1.

An order from the high court said, “…the respondent authorities are granted time till 31.03.2023 to complete the process and also to allot necessary budgetry provisions for the same so that the Mental Health Review Boards and Committees start functioning effectively from 01.04.2023”.

The Morigaon district jail in particular, according to the bench, did not execute or adhere to the Mental Health Act of 1987 or the Mental Health Care Act of 2017.
The high court was instructed to receive the reports from the district-level mental health evaluation boards. 

“…if any discrepancy is found, the same shall be brought to the notice of the respective Boards for effective implementation of the provisions of the Acts,” it said.

The bench remarked that petitioner "Studio Nilima: Collaborative Network for Research and Capacity Building" had presented examples of non-implementation of the provisions of the two statutes and underlined that mentally ill inmates are held with normal inmates in the jails.

The administration informed the court that these boards and committees need earmarked budgets, which are now being considered and will be submitted for approval to the state cabinet.

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