Mentally ill and homeless people share ward with prisoners
30 Dec, 2012An application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that mentally ill and homeless persons are admitted in the same ward as convicted prisoners and under-trial detainees at the Government Mental Health Centre (MHC) in Kozhikode.
The forensic ward is used to lodge persons who have committed or are accused of committing criminal offences such as rape, murder, robbery or any cognisable offence. The reply provided by the PIO of the centre shows that there have been 13 cases of suicide and three suspected homicides at the centre.
The RTI reply shows that in female ward, there are six convicted prisoners while in male ward there are five convicted prisoners and despite the presence of 11 convicted prisoners, no jail department personnel are posted at the centre. Also, there is only one police officer on duty at the male forensic ward, and no police security at all for the female forensic ward.