New Mental Health Bill Decriminalises Suicide


Bangalore: After gay sex, there are now moves to decriminalise suicide attempts under a bill introduced in Parliament.
In a major criminal law reform, the new Mental Health Care bill, 2013, introduced in Rajya Sabha, seeks to decriminalise acts of suicide and makes access to affordable mental health care a right for all.
The forward-looking bill links suicide attempt to the state of mental health of the person trying it. It explicitly states that acts of suicide will not be criminalised and those attempting suicide would be treated to be mentally ill unless proved otherwise and therefore exempted from the current provisions of Section 309 of Indian Penal Code.
"Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 309 of the IPC, any person who attempts suicide shall be presumed, unless proved otherwise, to be suffering from mental illness at the time of the bid and shall not be liable to punishment under the said Section," says Section 124 of the Bill.
The measure clarifies that the act of suicide and the mental health of the person committing the act are inseparably linked and have to be seen together and not in isolation.
The Bill lays down a proper provision for the treatment of persons attempting suicide.
It seeks to provide for mental health care for persons with mental illnesses and to protect, promote and fulfil the rights of such persons during delivery of mental health care and services.
It is the first time that the government has come up with rights based approach in the mental health law.
The Law Commission will separately recommend this amendment to the Criminal Law which would eventually be effected by the home ministry.
However, health ministry sources said the law ministry agreed on the proposed Section in the new mental health care bill to decriminalise suicide.
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Source: PTI