Plea in HC for contempt action against police for not preparing manual to deal with mentally ill

A plea was moved in the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking contempt action against the police for not complying with a judicial direction to prepare a manual for dealing with cases under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017.

A plea was moved in the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking contempt action against the police for not complying with a judicial direction to prepare a manual for dealing with cases under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017. The petition by lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal contended that the high court in 2018 directed Delhi Police to create a manual to deal with cases under the Mental Healthcare Act.

However, according to the response received from police under the Right to Information Act, the manual was being prepared, Bansal claims in his plea. He has contended that due to the non-availability of a manual to handle cases under the MH Act, a vulnerable sections of the society, specifically the elderly, women, homeless, and orphans, who are facing mental health issues are facing problems.

He has also claimed that there are around two lakh mentally ill homeless persons living on the streets of the national capital and it is the duty of police, under the MH Act, to protect them. Bansal has said, in his plea, that due to lack of a manual or protocol, police officers face difficulty in following section 100 of the MH Act which lays down the duty of police officers in respect of persons with mental illness.

According to the Act, the police officers have to take to the nearest public health establishment any mentally ill person found wandering around for assessment of his/her healthcare needs.

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