January 8, 2019
In India, a group of people with mental health problems were freed from a faith-based asylum in the state of Uttar Pradesh. They had been brought there by their relatives and were shackled to “cure them and rid them of spirits”. The Solicitor-General who informed the Supreme Court on Monday about this case, said that “people who admit pyschiatric patients in such religious places, across all religions, are mentally-ill themselves.” Supreme Court lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal said that shackling people in irons is against the provisions of the Mental Health Act 2017 and violates their fundamental right to a dignified life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Source: The Hindu, 7 January 2019