Mental Healthcare Act 2017 § 103
Definition
Provision of India's Mental Healthcare Act 2017 establishing the rights of persons with mental illness who are in prison or other detention facilities, including the right to mental health care equivalent to that available in the community and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
- Jurisdiction
- India
- Applies to
- Persons with mental illness in detention
- Right granted
- Care equivalent to community standard
- Also prohibits
- Cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment
Common questions
Why does this section specifically target prisoners rather than the general population already covered by the Act?+
Persons in custody cannot access community mental health services on their own, so Section 103 obligates the detaining facility to provide equivalent care rather than leaving prisoners with a lower standard simply because of their custodial status.
How does this section relate to BNSS Section 367 procedures for mentally ill accused persons?+
Section 103 sets the substantive right to adequate care while in detention, whereas BNSS Section 367 governs the procedural steps for assessing and managing an accused person's mental state during the criminal process. The two work together across the custody-to-trial pathway.
Related terms
- ACCT Process
- Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork; the England and Wales Prison and Probation Service framework for identifying and managing prisoners at risk...
- BNSS 2023 § 367
- Provision of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 that governs proceedings when the accused appears to be of unsound mind and incapable...
- Estelle V. Gamble (1976)
- US Supreme Court decision holding that deliberate indifference to a prisoner's serious medical need constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth...
- Mandela Rules
- United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by the General Assembly in 2015; Rules 24-35 address health care...
- MHA 1983 § 47
- UK Mental Health Act 1983 provision allowing the Secretary of State for Justice to transfer a sentenced prisoner to a psychiatric hospital...
- MHA 1983 § 48
- UK Mental Health Act 1983 provision equivalent to § 47 but applying to unsentenced (remand) prisoners; case law requires more prompt decision-making...
- Sell V. United States (2003)
- US Supreme Court case establishing the four-part test for when a court may authorise involuntary medication of a defendant for the purpose...