History of Mental Health Legislation in India

Throughout the 1900s, mental health legislation in India was significantly shaped by the British. The Lunatic Removal Act, 1851 aimed to facilitate the repatriation of British offenders with mental illness. In 1858, three additional pieces of legislation were introduced: the Lunacy (Supreme Courts) Act, the Lunacy (District Courts) Act and the Indian Lunatic Asylum Act. To these, the Military Lunatic Act was added in 1877. These pieces of legislation were consolidated in 1912 under the Indian Lunacy Act, which drew heavily on the English Lunatics Act, 1845. Shortly after Indian independence in 1947, a modern mental health act was drafted, but this legislation took over 35 years to be adopted, finally becoming the Mental Health Act, 1987. There were concerns about the content of this legislation from the outset, as many of its provisions were over 35 years old and the delivery of mental health services had changed significantly over that time. In 2007, India ratified the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and this provided further impetus for updating the legislation. The demands of the CRPD required that existing legislation be replaced rather than revised, owing to the extent of the changes needed. The passage of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 also had significant implications for people with psychosocial disabilities, owing to the inclusion of mental illness in the definition of disability in the CRPD. In 2018, the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 commenced.