He was speaking at the inauguration of ‘21st Annual conference of Indian Psychiatric Society — Karnataka Branch’ organised to discuss ‘Law and Psychiatry: Today and Tomorrow’ at the Platinum Jubilee Hall of the Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI) here on Saturday.
According to information collected during the ‘Namma Mane Police’ project, more than five per cent of the children are getting involved in drug addiction. Many have also been found to be undergoing mental conflict. There is a need for a concerted effort to fight drug addiction, he added.
With more than 10 crore people being mentally ill in the country, Ramdas said the responsibility is on the society to undertake measures to improve social health.
Emphasising on importance of spreading awareness about mental illness, Karnataka High Court Judge N Kumar said mental ailment is intimately connected with the law. “Law and mental health go hand in hand. Without knowledge of law you can’t eradicate the disease,” he added. Observing that several state governments failed to implement the Mental Health Act of 1987 effectively, Kumar said the Apex court should get the credit for its implementation.
He called upon participants of the conference to express their views and deliberate and provide him with inputs based on which, the Act could be enforced in a better manner.
Advising doctors to proceed with caution while terming a man as mentally ill, Kumar said even though it is not binding on the court, judges are inclined to accept it as gospel truth. “If advise (by doctors) is proper, our judgement is correct. If advise is erroneous, then our judgement is incorrect,” he said.
He said, “We will be committing the gravest of crimes of meteing out injustice. It will pollute the stream of justice.”
Citing personal experiences he had seen in the high court, Kumar mentioned that everyone is inflicted to some extent by some mental disease. When a child is brought for treatment, all family members and persons surrounding the child should be treated as a whole. There is a need to educate them and treat them as a family, he added.
Principal district and sessions judge H P Sandesh, MMC&RI dean and director Dr Geetha K Avadhani, Indian Psychiatry national president Dr M Thirunavukarasu, MMC&RI principal Dr P S Kaladgi, Indian Pyschiatric Society president Dr M T Sathyanarayana and others were also present.
