New mental health care bill to decriminalise suicide

The new mental health care bill, which seeks to decriminalise suicide and makes access to affordable mental health care a right for all, was introduced in Rajya Sabha this week.

For the first time in the history of criminal law reform in the country, Mental Health Care Bill, 2013 seeks to decriminalise acts of suicide by linking them to the state of mental health of the person attempting the act. The forward-looking Bill 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.

Section 124 of the Bill states, "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." The Bill thus 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. Moved by the Ministry of Health, the Bill lays down a proper provision for the treatment of persons attempting suicide.

The Bill 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 move 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. "It is a landmark bill which takes care of the rights of the mentally ill.