India’s Mental Healthcare Act, 2017

Abstract

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Of Promises and Discontents: Mapping India's Response to Guaranteeing the Right to Mental Health during the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…72 As shall be evidenced by the regulatory framework guaranteeing the right to mental health in India in Part III of this article, the UNCRPD has provided the impetus for the promulgation of mental healthcare legislation in most of the countries that have ratified it. 73 Despite the greater clarity about the normative framework applicable to the right to mental health, progress in bringing practice in conformity with this rights-framework remains slow. 74 While the interdependence of physical health and mental health, as well as the intrinsic linkages between the right to the highest attainable standard of health and other human rights, calls for States to adopt an approach according equal value to physical and mental health, such parity is not enjoyed by mental health in national policies, practices, norms, education, or budgets anywhere in the world.…”

“…179 Much like the Mental Healthcare Act 2017, the Act emphasizes the rights of individuals with mental illnesses, including but not limited to: the rights to dignity, non-discrimination, inclusion and participation in society, individual autonomy, and accessibilityand in this sense it complements the 2017 Act. 180 It also, much like the 2017 Act, marks a shift from a charity-model to a rights-based model, as well as from a medical model to a biopsychosocial model. 181 However, apart from difficulties in implementation, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, specifically poses the following problems in the context of concerns about mental health: the suitability of its general provisions in addressing the particularities of the challenges faced by persons with mental illnesses; impediments to caregiving by families; the notions of (in)capacity inherent in the formulation of certain provisions as opposed to an emphasis on social welfare; and, pivotally, the lack of effective synchronization between the Acts of 2016 and 2017.…”