Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 and homeless persons with mental illness in India

Homeless persons with mental illness (HPMI) suffer indignities due to shirking of all obligations by the society. In addition, the HPMI is denied all rights available to citizens, such as confidentiality, privacy, safety, right to practice religion, health, and the right to not suffer from inhuman treatment. In this context, the new Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA), 2017 has brought in a list of rights for HPMI, and this is a welcome sign. The MHCA has also taken away the mandated involvement of judiciary to provide care for the HPMI. However, the ground realities in terms of the systems and the existent infrastructure are far from satisfactory to handle the issue in India. The onus of providing care for the HPMI has shifted to the state, and the public agencies are responsible for ensuring the same. The article aims to look at various sections of the MHCA relevant in regard to providing care for the HPMI.