{"id":5470,"date":"2024-07-13T17:57:23","date_gmt":"2024-07-13T12:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leadindia.law\/blog\/en\/?p=5470"},"modified":"2024-07-13T17:57:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-13T12:27:24","slug":"mental-illness-under-the-mental-healthcare-act-2017-v-s-mental-illness-under-the-bns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leadindia.law\/blog\/en\/mental-illness-under-the-mental-healthcare-act-2017-v-s-mental-illness-under-the-bns\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Illness Under The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 V\/S. Mental Illness Under The Bns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Before MHA 2017, the Mental Healthcare Act of 1987 prioritized the institutionalization of mentally ill persons and denied them any rights. The Act gave judicial officers and mental health facilities disproportionate power to authorize long-term hospitalizations, often against the individual’s informed consent and preferences. As a result, some people continue to be admitted and languish in mental health facilities against their will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It exemplified the colonial-era Indian Lunacy Act of 1912, which linked criminality and insanity. Asylums were locations where “abnormal” and “unproductive” behavior was investigated as an individual phenomenon, separating the individual from society. The intervention is intended to rectify an inherent deficit or “abnormality,” ultimately leading to “recovery.” In 2017, the MHA demolished the clinical heritage associated with asylums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mental Healthcare Act, 2017<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This Act defined mental illness as “a major impairment of thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that significantly impairs judgement, behaviour, capacity to recognise reality, or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life, including mental conditions associated with alcohol and drug abuse.” It also grants patients the right to access facilities such as rehabilitative services in hospitals, communities, and at home, as well as sheltered and assisted housing. It regulates PMI (Person with Mental Illness) research and the use of neurosurgical treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BNS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On August 11, the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha, with the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam legislation. The proposed laws used the term ‘mental illness’ as defined in clause (a) of Section 2 of the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, chaired by BJP MP Brijlal, recommended that the term ‘mental illness’ in the proposed laws be changed to ‘unsound mind’ because mental illness appears to encompass mood swings or voluntary intoxication. The panel made these observations in its report after reviewing the proposed laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 V\/s. Mental Illness under BNS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The IPC protects those with disordered minds from prosecution.  The BNS transforms this into a person suffering from mental illness.  Mental illness is defined as excluding mental impairment and including alcohol and drug misuse.  Individuals with mental retardation may face prosecution, whereas those who are voluntarily intoxicated may be exonerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n