New Delhi, June 18th, 2010
The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of a distressing media report alleging that the Chennai Corporation under a drive to remove mentally ill people from the streets in its ten zones, picked up randomly all those who were either sleeping on the pavements or loitering around.

The report carried on the 8th June, 2010, said that about 113 people, who apparently looked dirty or a little disoriented, were sent to the Institute of Mental Health, Kilpauk. They were reportedly migrant labourers from the other states having no knowledge of the local language.

It also mentioned that psychiatrists had identified 20-30 of them as mentally ill, but only 14 of them were given reception orders from the Magistrate to approve the detention. Despite this, all the 113 people, picked up under the drive to remove mentally ill people from the street, were imprisoned for two weeks.

They were let off after obtaining their thumb impressions on a statement which said that they were voluntarily seeking admission in the Institute of Mental Health. The media report is based on the findings of an NGO, the Peoples Union for Human Rights.

The Commission observed in its proceedings on the 14th June, 2010 that the contents of the press report, if true, raise a serious issue of human rights of the victims, and issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu calling for a report within four weeks from the date of its receipt.

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