Bombay High Court Mulls Framing Guidelines To Ensure Mental Health Of Prisoners Does Not Deteriorate, Calls For State's Reply

The Bombay High Court on Friday ordered the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit containing instructions to ensure that the mental health of the prisoners languishing in jail does not deteriorate, so that the court can issue guidelines for the same.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan said the issue of suicides by prisoners in jail is of great concern and thus, the State must ensure that their mental health does not deteriorate while they are behind bars.

"You need to take care of the mental health of the prisoners. You should also look into how other countries are taking care of the mental health of prisoners. We are saying so because we are concerned with the larger issue involved in this matter. We grant you four weeks time to file an affidavit and place on record some material that you think is sufficient so that we can consider issuing guidelines to ensure the mental health of prisoners" the bench told Additional Public Prosecutor Prajakta Shinde.

The bench also sought to know from Shinde, the procedure to treat prisoners with mental health issues, followed by the prison authorities and if a psychiatrist is made available for treating such prisoners.

"They are in your custody, you cannot deny them the correct treatment for the health issues," Justice Mohite-Dere observed.

The judges were hearing a plea filed by Lata Babulal Shinde, mother of Jitendra Shinde, a death row convict in the infamous Kopardi gang rape case of 2016, who committed suicide in the barrack of Yerwada Central Jail, where he was kept. The plea filed through advocate Vijay Hiremath states that the petitioner's son was suffering from mental health issues and that no care was taken of the petitioner's son, by the prison authorities, as mandated by various Acts.

It is the petitioner's contention that as far as incarcerated prisoners are concerned, the State, through the prison administration, is obliged to act as parens patriae and provide treatment for mental health persons, however, the same is not being done.

The petitioner had in January 2024, submitted a compilation of documents containing;

• The extract from the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017;
• The Mental Healthcare (Rights of Persons with Mental Illnesses Rules) 2018;
• National Institute of Mental Health And Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Report dealing with Mental Health Crisis in Prisoners during Covid-19;
• National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Suicide in Prison:Prevention Strategy and Implication From Human Rights and Legal Points of View, 2014;
• NHRC Guidelnes on Prevenion of Suicide in Prison;
• Extract from Model Prison Act, 2023;
• Extract from Model Prison Manual, 2016;
• The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) 

The bench has granted four weeks time to the government to respond to the plea.

The Kopardi case pertains to the rape and subsequent murder of a 14-year-old girl by three men in the Kopardi village in Karjat, Ahmednagar district, on July 13, 2016. Since the victims belonged to the Maratha community and the accused were Dalits, the incident sparked massive protests across Maharashtra.

In November 2017, the accused persons were sentenced to death sentence under charges of gang rape, murder and relevant provisions of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.