New bill says suicide not an act of crime

August 22, 2013

New Delhi, Aug 22: The new mental health care bill, which seeks to decriminalise suicide and make access to affordable mental health care a right for all, was introduced in Rajya Sabha this week. suicide

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 Bill explicitly states that acts of suicide will not be criminalised and those attempting suicide would be treated as 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.

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 the delivery of mental health care and services.

It is the first time that the Government has come up with a 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. It is forward looking and India needed such a law. It strongly protects the rights of mentally ill and puts a lot of onus for the welfare of the ill on the Government,” a Health Ministry official said.

The Bill fills the long standing gap in the mental health law in India after the country ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requiring it to harmonise its laws with those prevalent worldwide. India had signed the convention on October 1, 2007 and it came into force on May 3, 2008.

Once the Parliament passes the Bill and it is assented by the President, it will replace the Mental Health Act of 1987.

The new Bill guarantees several rights to the mentally ill - from the right to privacy in mental health establishments to the right to dignity. It bars inhuman practices such as electro convulsive therapy without anaesthesia, sterilisation as a treatment for illness, chaining and tonsuring of heads of the mentally ill.

The Bill also provides stringent penalties for those found running unregistered mental health care establishments which would be fined with Rs. 50,000 to Rs. five lakh depending on the frequency of the offence.

It seeks to regulate the public and private mental health sectors and establish a mental health system integrated into all levels of general health care.

The law also provides for the Advance Directive to be furnished in writing by a person, irrespective of his mental illness, and registered with a Mental Board to be set up by the government at state and central levels. This directive allows the individual to appoint a nominated representative to deal with the kind of treatment he wants in the case he falls mentally ill in future.

The Bill provides for a State Mental Health Authority and a Central Mental Health Authority along with a Mental Health Review Commission to regulate the sector and register institutions.

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News Network
April 5,2020

Thieves broke into an MSIL liquor outlet at Kuthar Nityanandanagara on the outskirts of Mangaluru and decamped with liquor worth Rs 1 lakh. The incident came to light on Friday morning. 

The outlet belongs to Purushotham Pilar. 

Before committing the crime, the thieves had hung a cloth in front of the shop shutter of the outlet to ensure that no one could notice the crime. They also stole DVR of the CCTV the was installed. 

On noticing that outlet was open, many people had even come to purchase liquor. The police took all those who had visited the outlet to purchase to the task and chased them away.

The thieves also stole 10 packets of cigarettes from a paan shop situated adjacent to the MSIL outlet.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 14,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 15: The total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka reached the 7,000-mark on Sunday, with the state reporting 176 new cases and five related fatalities, taking the toll to 86.

The day also saw 312 patients getting discharged in the state after recovery while the total number of positive cases in the Udupi district alone breached 1000 cases mark.

As of June 14 evening, cumulatively 7,000 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 86 deaths and 3,955 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin. It said, out of 2,956 active cases, 2,940 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 16 are in ICU.

The five dead include- thee from Bengaluru urban, and one each from Dakshina Kannada and Bidar. The three from Bengaluru include- two women aged 57 and 60 respectively and a man who was 50 years; while the person who died in Dakshina Kannada was a 24-year-old man.

Also, a 76-year-old man from Bidar, who died at his residence on June 6, later tested positive for COVID-19. Out of 176 new cases, 88 are returnees from other states, the majority of them from neighboring Maharashtra. While 6 are those who returned from other countries.

Among the districts where new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounts for 42, Yadgir 22, Udupi 21, Bidar 20, Kalaburagi 13, Dharwad 10, Ballari 8, Kolar 7, Uttara Kannada 6, five each from Mandya and Dakshina Kannada, Bagalkote 4 and Ramanagara 3. Besides, two each from Raichur and Shivamogga, and one each from Belagavi, Hassan, Vijayapura, Bengaluru rural, and Haveri.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 1,026 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 896 and Yadgir 809.

Among discharges also Udupi tops the list with total of 713 discharges, followed by Kalaburagi 427 and Bengaluru urban 327. A total of 4,43,969 samples were tested so far, out of which 7,451 were tested on Sunday alone. So far 4,27,608 samples have been reported as negative, and out of the 6,835 were reported negative today.

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News Network
April 19,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Sunday thanked Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for backing his family regarding his son Nikhil s wedding, which drew flak for allegedly violating lockdown norms.

Asserting that social distancing was maintained during the wedding, the JD(S) leader in a series of tweets hit out at those accusing his family of violating lockdown norms, by stating that they were doing it out of "political hate".

"Despite maintaining social distancing and following rules during Nikhil's marriage, there are discussion that norms were not followed.

Because of political hate, poisonous comments are being made about an auspicious event, but Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa by rejecting all this is standing by the truth," Kumaraswamy said in a tweet in Kannada.

He said, "heartfelt thanks to Yediyurappa for his statement that a big political family in the state has conducted the marriage ceremony in a simple way."

Nikhil, the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, entered wedlock on Friday at a Bidadi farmhouse with Revathi, the grandniece of former Congress minister M Krishnappa.

On the day of the marriage several posts on social media, also media reports had criticised the Gowda family for violating locdown norms and social distancing during the event.

Coming to the defence of Gowda family, Yediyurappa in response to a question on Saturday told reporters "They (family) had all the permissions and the event was held in a simple fashion. There's no need to discuss this.

"Despite having many relatives, they stuck to the limitations. For this, I congratulate them," he had said.

Stating that lockdown rules were followed during Nikhil's marriage, Kumaraswamy said, "By looking for politics in Nikhil's marriage, certain faulty minds on social media are spewing venom that is in their mind."

Gowda family had scaled down Nikhil's wedding, which was earlier planned in a 95-acre land near Ramanagara with a lavish set, with lakhs of party workers and well-wishers in attendance, followed by a grand reception in Bengaluru.

Nikhil has acted in couple of Kannada films in the lead role.

He had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the party bastion of Mandya and had lost against multilingual actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent candidate supported by BJP, in a bitterly contested polls.

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