Delhi HC Issues Notice In Plea Seeking Adequate Facilities for Homeless Persons With Mental Illnesses To Deal With COVID19

Delhi High Court has issued notice in a plea seeking adequate testing and other facilities for homeless persons who are suffering from various forms of mental illnesses.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan has issued notice to the Delhi Government, Union of India, and the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHAB).

Filed by Mr Gaurav Bansal, the petition sought court's directions to the Delhi Government to ensure adequate testing for homeless and mentally ill persons for COVID19.

The Petitioner argued that it is the responsibility of the government under both the Mental Healthcare Act as well as the Persons with Disabilities Act to ensure that needs of the persons suffering from mental illness are included in the Disaster Management Strategy.

'The government has to ensure that the specific needs of the mentally ill and homeless persons are addressed by the state while formulating policies for COVID19', the Petitioner argued.

It is submitted by the Petitioner that despite the directions issued by this court on June 09, no policy has been formulated by the Respondents to address the grievances raised by the Petitioner.

It is further argued by the Petitioner that homeless persons with mental illnesses are part of the vulnerable section of the society, hence, they require special protection of the state.

Emphasising upon the need to address the issue, the Petitioner argues that the lack of policy on the grievances raised in the petition is also causing inconvenience to the government run mental health establishments as they are confused about that sort of health services to be provided to such individuals.

The court will next take up this matter on July 09.