Context

Twenty years ago on August 6 in Erwadi in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram, a fire broke out in a thatched shelter, engulfing 43 chained people who had psychosocial disabilities.

Legal provision for the persons with disabilities

• India ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007.
• The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act  was enacted in 2016.
• The Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA) was enacted in 2017.

Failure of the states

• Sates have failed to uphold the human rights of people with disabilities in general and those with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities in particular.
• Only eight states/UTs — Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Odisha, Kerala, and West Bengal — have framed rules for implementation of MHCA.
• Unless we implement the law in letter and spirit, the Global Mental Health Movement will remain a mere buzzword and the CRPD-reliant MHCA will remain a law only on paper.

Violations of rights in private asylums

• Private asylums survive because of their close proximity to faith-based healing centres.
• Because mental health conditions carry a high stigma, caregivers flock to these faith-based facilities in the hopes of finding a cure.
• Private players take advantage of their vulnerabilities, forcing such persons with psychosocial issues to be grouped together and chained in these shelters.
• Chaining in any way or form is outlawed under Section 95 of the MHCA.

Way forward

• Human right approach: We must work to ensure that the human rights approach to disability is integrated into mental health systems, education, law, and bureaucracy.
• We move away from pathologisation, segregation, and a charity-based approach.

Conclusion

Implementation of rights of the persons with disability needs implementation in letter and spirit and human rights based approach.

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