Karnataka High Court Issues Notice To Centre Over Prohibition Of Electro Convulsive Therapy For Treating Patients With Mental Illness

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Union Government and the state government on a petition seeking to quash Section 94 of The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 which restrains the use of Electro Convulsive Therapy. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum issued the notice and directed the respondents to file their statement of objections within four weeks. The petition states that it is well accepted that patients with mental illnesses can harbour suicidal ideas and make suicidal attempts. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, any medical treatment, including treatment for mental illness, may be provided by any registered medical practitioner to a person with mental illness either at a health establishment or in the community, subject to the informed consent of the nominated representative, where the nominated representative is available, and where it is immediately necessary to prevent— death or irreversible harm to the health of the person;or the person inflicting serious harm to himself or to others; or the person causing serious damage to property belonging to himself or to others where such behaviour is believed to flow directly from the person's mental illness