Examining National Mental Health Law from the lens of UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

Accessibility

 

The lecture will be conducted in English with Indian Sign Language (ISL) interpretation.  If the interpreter is not spotlighted along with the speaker on the Webex platform, you may please pin the interpreter's tab for a seamless experience. If anyone requires  assistance in accessing the lecture without barriers, in addition to the  sign language, please get in touch with me by 10 April, 2024. 

 

Abstract

The lecture will dwell on how insanity and mental illness have been addressed in national legislation from the colonial Lunacy Act of 1912 till the Mental Health Care and Treatment Act of 2017. The 2017 Act was enacted to fulfil the country’s international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The lecture firstly, aims to show that the approach adopted in the national law is not in harmony with the disability rights convention; and then deliberate on why this dissonance needs to be acknowledged, even to start a dialogue for a human rights friendly mental health law. 

 

Bionote of the speaker

 

Prof Amita Dhanda is  Professor Emerita at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad where she also heads the Centre for Disability Studies and Centre for Legal Philosophy and Justice Education.  She started her legal career as  a researcher in Indian Institute of Law, Delhi. Justice Bhagwati, the then Chief Justice of India decided to have her clerk for him based on her capabilities. During her tenure, she did hands-on research on the mental health of prisoners in West Bengal and also suggested amendments to the  Persons with Disabilities Act 1995. From 1999, she joined as a full-time professor in NALSAR, where she taught  Administrative Law, Law and Poverty, Law and Literature and Judicial Process. She has written extensively on the legal position of persons with mental disability.  Prof Dhanda was involved in the negotiations of the UN Ad Hoc Committee that drafted the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  In 2011, she was a leader of a committee set up by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment of the Government of India for drafting a law on the rights of people with disabilities. She is assisting the Government of Gujarat in formulating a rights sensitive mental health law. Prof Dhanda's research has been referred to by premier institutions, both nationally and internationally, such aS WHO, UNICEF, National Human Rights Commission (India), National Commission for Women (India),  National Institute of Mental Health (USA). She was appointed as a member of the strong 14- Member National Advisory Council for the implementation of the RTE Act in 2010.  She has  written several articles for The Hindu, Frontline, Kafila and Indian Express. Legal Order and Mental Disorder (published in 2000), Dhanda's book on the legal status of persons with mental illness is a pioneering effort in the field. She is also the author of Decolonisation of Legal Knowledge  and Engendering Law: Essays in Honor of Latika Sarkar.