The Hindu : National : Supreme Court to the rescue of mentally ill prisoners

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 25, 2007
ePaper

National

National

Supreme Court to the rescue of mentally ill prisoners

Legal Correspondent

Those in hospital beyond maximum period of sentence should be freed

377 prisoners languishing in mental hospitals: reports

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of undertrial prisoners languishing in mental hospitals for years if their stay exceeded the maximum period of sentence for the offences they were charged with.

In giving this direction, a Bench consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari, took into consideration the fact that trial courts could not proceed with the cases of such prisoners on the ground that they were mentally challenged and were medically unfit to defend themselves.

As per the reports submitted by various High Courts, 377 prisoners were languishing in mental hospitals, most of them beyond the period of maximum sentence specified for their offences. Chandran of Kerala was staying in a mental hospital for 38 years; Prakasho of Uttar Pradesh for 34 years; Satya Pal of West Bengal for 28 years and some others were staying for periods ranging from two to 24 years.

Minor charges

The amicus curiae informed the court that in most of the cases, charges against the accused were minor, entailing punishments for shorter terms.

Nevertheless, the trial courts were not taking steps for medical examination of the accused periodically to ascertain whether they were able to defend their cases or not.

Even when they were mentally fit, the trial court was not taking timely steps to either conduct the trial or commit the case to sessions.

The Bench asked the trial courts concerned to treat the cases as closed if the mentally ill prisoners had stayed beyond the maximum period of sentence and issue a direction to hospitals to discharge them subject to the provisions of the Mental Health Act.

For grave offences

The Bench directed that in cases where the prisoners were charged with grave offences like murder, for which the maximum punishment was death/life imprisonment, they be released on bail if they had stayed in mental hospitals for five years or more.

Hospital report

Wherever the cases were not closed, the prisoners should be examined once in three months and the medical officer of the hospital concerned should send a report to the trial court staying whether the prisoners were in a position to face the trial or not.

The court should also seek a report from the hospital once in three months, the Bench said and adjourned the proceedings for the period after two months, after the receipt of compliance reports from the High Courts.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National