A.—Reception orders on applications
20. Application for reception order.—(1) An application for a reception order may be made by—
(a) the medical officer in charge of a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home, or
(b) by the husband, wife or any other relative of the mentally ill person.
(2) Where a medical officer in charge of a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home in which a
mentally ill person is undergoing treatment under a temporary treatment order is satisfied that—
(a) the mentally ill person is suffering from mental disorder of such a nature and degree that his
treatment in the psychiatric hospital or, as the case may be, psychiatric nursing home is required to be
continued for more than six months, or
(b) it is necessary in the interests of the health and personal safety of the mentally ill person or
for the protection of others that such person shall be detained in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric
nursing home,
he may make an application to the Magistrate within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the psychiatric
hospital or, as the case may be, psychiatric nursing home is situated, for the detention of such mentally ill
person under a reception order in such psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home, as the case may
be.
(3) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (5), the husband or wife of a person who is alleged to be
mentally ill or, where there is no husband or wife, or where the husband or wife is prevented by reason of
any illness or absence from India or otherwise from making the application, any other relative of such
person may make an application to the Magistrate within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the said
person ordinarily resides, for the detention of the alleged mentally ill person under a reception order in a
psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home.
(4) Where the husband or wife of the alleged mentally ill person is not the applicant, the application
shall contain the reasons for the application not being made by the husband or wife and shall indicate the
relationship of the applicant with the alleged mentally ill person and the circumstances under which the
application is being made.
(5) No person,—
(i) who is a minor, or
(ii) who, within fourteen days before the date of the application, has not seen the alleged mentally
ill person,
shall make an application under this section.
(6) Every application under sub-section (3) shall be made in the prescribed form and shall be signed
and verified in the prescribed manner and shall state whether any previous application had been made for
inquiry into the mental condition of the alleged mentally ill person and shall be accompanied by two
medical certificates from two medical practitioners of whom one shall be a medical practitioner in the
service of Government.
21. Form and contents of medical certificates.—Every medical certificate referred to in
sub-section (6) of section 20 shall contain a statement,—
(a) that each of the medical practitioners referred to in that sub-section has independently
examined the alleged mentally ill person and has formed his opinion on the basis of his own
observations and from the particulars communicated to him; and
(b) that in the opinion of each such medical practitioner the alleged mentally ill person is
suffering from mental disorder of such a nature and degree as to warrant the detention of such person
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in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home and that such detention is necessary in the
interests of the health and personal safety of that person or for the protection of others.
22. Procedure upon application for reception order.—(1) On receipt of an application under
sub-section (2) of section 20, the Magistrate may make a reception order, if he is satisfied that—
(i) the mentally ill person is suffering from mental disorder of such a nature and degree that it is
necessary to detain him in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home for treatment; or
(ii) it is necessary in the interests of the health and personal safety of the mentally ill person or for
the protection of others that he should be so detained, and a temporary treatment order would not be
adequate in the circumstances of the case and it is necessary to make a reception order.
(2) On receipt of an application under sub-section (3) of section 20, the Magistrate shall consider the
statements made in the application and the evidence of mental illness as disclosed by the medical
certificates.
(3) If the Magistrate considers that there are sufficient grounds for preceding further, he shall
personally examine the alleged mentally ill person unless, for reasons to be recorded in writing, he thinks
that it is not necessary or expedient to do so.
(4) If the Magistrate is satisfied that a reception order may properly be made forthwith, he may make
such order, and if the Magistrate is not so satisfied, he shall fix a date for further consideration of the
application and may make such inquiries concerning the alleged mentally ill person as he thinks fit.
(5) The notice of the date fixed under sub-section (4) shall be given to the applicant and to any other
person to whom, in the opinion of the Magistrate, such notice shall be given.
(6) If the Magistrate fixes a date under sub-section (4) for further consideration of the application, he
may make such order as he thinks fit, for he proper care and custody of the alleged mentally ill person
pending disposal of the application.
(7) On the date fixed under sub-section (4), or on such further date as may be fixed by the Magistrate,
he shall proceed to consider the application in camera, in the presence of—
(i) the applicant;
(ii) the alleged mentally ill person (unless the Magistrate in his discretion otherwise directs);
(iii) the person who may be appointed by the alleged mentally ill person to represent him; and
(iv) such other person as the Magistrate thinks fit,
and if the Magistrate is satisfied that the alleged mentally ill person, in relation to whom the application is
made, is so mentally ill that in the interests of the health and personal safety of that person or for the
protection of others it is necessary to detain him in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home for
treatment, he may pass a reception order for that purpose and if he is not so satisfied, he shall dismiss the
application and any such order may provide for the payment of the costs of the inquiry by the applicant
personally or from out of the estate of the mentally ill person, as the Magistrate may deem appropriate.
(8) If any application is dismissed under sub-section (7), the Magistrate shall record the reasons for
such dismissal and a copy of the order shall be furnished to the applicant.
B.—Reception orders on production of mentally ill persons before Magistrate
23. Powers and duties of police officers in respect of certain mentally ill persons.—(1) Every
officer in charge of a police station,—
(a) may take or cause to be taken into protection any person found wandering at large within the
limits of his station whom he has reason to believe to be so mentally ill as to be incapable of taking
care of himself, and
(b) shall take or cause to be taken into protection any person within the limits of his station whom
he has reason to believe to be dangerous by reason of mental illness.
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(2) No person taken into protection under sub-section (1) shall be detained by the police without
being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for taking him into such protection, or where, in the
opinion of the officer taking the person into protection, such person is not capable of understanding those
grounds, without his relatives or friends, if any, being informed of such grounds.
(3) Every person who is taken into protection and detained under this section shall be produced before
the nearest Magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of taking him into such protection excluding
the time necessary for the journey from the place where he was taken into such protection to the Court of
the Magistrate and shall not be detained beyond the said period without the authority of the Magistrate.
24. Procedure on production of mentally ill person.—(1) If a person is produced before a
Magistrate under sub-section (3) of section 23, and if, in his opinion, there are sufficient grounds for
proceeding further, the Magistrate shall—
(a) examine the person to assess his capacity to understand,
(b) cause him to be examined by a medical officer, and
(c) make such inquiries in relation to such person as he may deem necessary.
(2) After the completion of the proceedings under sub-section (1), the Magistrate may pass a
reception order authorising the detention of the said person as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital or
psychiatric nursing home,—
(a) if the medical officer certifies such person to be a mentally ill person, and
(b) if the Magistrate is satisfied that the said person is a mentally ill person and that in the
interests of the health and personal safety of that person or for the protection of others, it is necessary
to pass such order:
Provided that if any relative or friend of the mentally ill person desires that the mentally ill person be
sent to any particular licensed psychiatric hospital or licensed psychiatric nursing home for treatment
therein and undertakes in writing to the satisfaction of the Magistrate to pay the cost of maintenance of
the mentally ill person in such hospital or nursing home, the Magistrate shall, if the medical officer
in charge of such hospital or nursing home consents, make a reception order for the admission of the
mentally ill person into that hospital or nursing home and detention therein:
Provided further that if any relative or friend of the mentally ill person enters into a bond, with or
without sureties for such amount as the Magistrate may determine, undertaking that such mentally ill
person will be properly taken care of and shall be prevented from doing any injury to himself or to others,
the Magistrate may, instead of making a reception order, hand him over to the care of such relative or
friend.
25. Order in case of mentally ill person cruelly treated or not under proper care and control.—
(1) Every officer in charge of a police station, who has reason to believe that any person within the limits
of his station is mentally ill and is not under proper care and control, or is ill-treated or neglected by any
relative or other person having charge of such mentally ill person, shall forthwith report the fact to the
Magistrate within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the mentally ill person resides.
(2) Any private person who has reason to believe that any person is mentally ill and is not under
proper care and control, or is ill-treated or neglected by any relative or other person having charge of such
mentally ill person, may report the fact to the Magistrate within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the
mentally ill person resides.
(3) If it appears to the Magistrate, on the report of a police officer or on the report or information
derived from any other person, or otherwise that any mentally ill person within the local limits of his
jurisdiction is not under proper care and control, or is ill-treated or neglected by any relative or other
person having the charge of such mentally ill person, the Magistrate may cause the mentally ill person to
be produced before him, and summon such relative or other person who is, or who ought to be in charge
of, such mentally ill person.
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(4) If such relative or any other person is legally bound to maintain the mentally ill person, the
Magistrate may, by order, require the relative or the other person to take proper care of such mentally ill
person and where such relative or other person wilfully neglects to comply with the said order, he shall be
punishable with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.
(5) If there is no person legally bound to maintain the mentally ill person, or if the person legally
bound to maintain the mentally ill person refuses or neglects to maintain such person, or if, for any other
reason, the Magistrate thinks fit so to do, he may cause the mentally ill person to be produced before him
and, without prejudice to any action that may be taken under sub-section (4), proceed in the manner
provided in section 24 as if such person had been produced before him under sub-section (3) of
section 23.
C.—Further provisions regarding admission and detention of certain mentally ill persons
26. Admission as inpatient after inquisition.—If any District Court holding an inquisition under
Chapter VI regarding any person who is found to be mentally ill is of opinion that it is necessary so to do
in the interests of such person, it may, by order, direct that such person shall be admitted and kept as an
inpatient in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home and every such order may be varied from
time to time or revoked by the District Court.
27. Admission and detention of mentally ill prisoner.—An order under section 30 of the Prisoners
Act, 1900 (3 of 1900), or under section 144 of the Air Force Act, 1950 (45 of 1950), or under section 145
of the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950), or under section 143 or section 144 of the Navy Act, 1957 (62 of
1957), or under section 330 or section 335 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), directing
the reception of a mentally ill prisoner into any psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home, shall be
sufficient authority for the admission of such person in such hospital or, as the case may be, such nursing
home or any other psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home to which such person may be lawfully
transferred for detention therein.
28. Detention of alleged mentally ill person pending report by medical officer.—(1) When any
person alleged to be a mentally ill person appears or is brought before a Magistrate under section 23 or
section 25, the Magistrate may, by order in writing, authorise the detention of the alleged mentally ill
person under proper medical custody in an observation ward of a general hospital or general nursing
home or psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home or in any other suitable place for such period not
exceeding ten days as the Magistrate may consider necessary for enabling any medical officer to
determine whether a medical certificate in respect of that alleged mentally ill person may properly be
given under clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 24.
(2) The Magistrate may, from time to time, for the purpose mentioned in sub-section (1), by order in
writing, authorise such further detention of the alleged mentally ill person for periods not exceeding ten
days at a time as he may deem necessary:
Provided that no person shall be authorised to be detained under this sub-section for a continuous
period exceeding thirty days in the aggregate.
29. Detention of mentally ill person pending his removal to psychiatric hospital or psychiatric
nursing home.—Whenever any reception order is made by a Magistrate under section 22, section 24 or
section 25, he may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, direct that the mentally ill person in respect of
whom the order is made may be detained for such period not exceeding thirty days in such place as he
may deem appropriate, pending the removal of such person to a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing
home.
D.—Miscellaneous provisions in relation to orders under this Chapter
30. Time and manner of medical examination of mentally ill person.—Where any order under this
Chapter is required to be made on the basis of a medical certificate, such order shall not be made unless
the person who has signed the medical certificate, or where such order is required to be made on the basis
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of two medical certificates, the signatory of the respective certificates, has certified that he has personally
examined the alleged mentally, ill person,—
(i) in the case of an order made on an application, not earlier than ten clear days immediately
before the date on which such application is made; and
(ii) in any other case, not earlier than ten clear days immediately before the date of such order:
Provided that where a reception order is required to be made on the basis of two medical certificates
such order shall not be made unless the certificates show that the signatory of each certificate examined
the alleged mentally ill person independently of the signatory of the other certificate.
31. Authority for reception order.—A reception order made under this Chapter shall be sufficient
authority—
(i) for the applicant or any person authorised by him, or
(ii) in the case of a reception order made otherwise than on an application, for the person
authorised so to do by the authority making the order,
to take the mentally ill person to the place mentioned in such order or for his admission and treatment as
an inpatient in the psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home specified in the order or, as the case
may be, for his admission and detention therein, or in any psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing
home to which he may be removed in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and the medical officer
in charge shall be bound to comply with such order:
Provided that in any case where the medical officer in charge finds accommodation in the psychiatric
hospital or psychiatric nursing home inadequate, he shall, after according admission, intimate that fact to
the Magistrate or the District Court which passed the order and thereupon the Magistrate or the District
Court, as the case may be, shall pass such order as he or it may deem fit:
Provided further that every reception order shall cease to have effect—
(a) on the expiry of thirty days from the date on which it was made, unless within that period, the
mentally ill person has been admitted to the place mentioned therein, and
(b) on the discharge, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, of the mentally ill person.
32. Copy of reception order to be sent to medical officer in charge.—Every Magistrate or District
Court making a reception order shall forthwith send a certified copy thereof together with copies of the
requisite medical certificates and the statement of particulars to the medical officer in charge of the
psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home to which the mentally ill person is to be admitted.
33. Restriction as to psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric nursing homes into which reception
order may direct admission.—No Magistrate or District Court shall pass a reception order for the
admission as an inpatient to, or for the detention of any mentally ill person in, any psychiatric hospital or
psychiatric nursing home outside the State in which the Magistrate or the District Court exercises
jurisdiction:
Provided that an order for admission or detention into or in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric
nursing home situated in any other State may by passed if the State Government has, by general or special
order and after obtaining the consent of the Government of such other State, authorised the Magistrate or
the District Court in that behalf.
34. Amendment of order or document.—If, after the admission of any mentally ill person to any
psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home under a reception order, it appears that the order under
which he was admitted or detained or any of the documents on the basis of which such order was made is
defective or incorrect, the same may, at any time thereafter, be amended with the permission of the
Magistrate or the District Court, by the person or persons who signed the same and upon such amendment
being made, the order shall have effect and shall be deemed always to have had effect as if it had been
originally made as so amended, or, as the case may be, the documents upon which it was made had been
originally furnished as so amended.
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35. Power to appoint substitute for person upon whose application reception order has been
made.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section the Magistrate may, by order in writing (hereinafter
referred to as the order of substitution), transfer the duties and responsibilities under this Act, of the
person on whose application a reception order was made, to any other person who is willing to undertake
the same and such other person shall thereupon be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be the person on
whose application the reception order was made and all references in this Act to the latter person shall be
construed accordingly:
Provided that no such order of substitution shall absolve the person upon whose application the
reception order was made or, if he is dead, his legal representatives, from any liability incurred before the
date of the order of substitution.
(2) Before making any order of substitution, the Magistrate shall send a notice to the person on whose
application the reception order was made, if he is alive, and to any relative of the mentally ill person who,
in the opinion of the Magistrate, shall have notice.
(3) The notice under sub-section (2) shall specify the name of the person in whose favour it is
proposed to make the order of substitution and the date (which shall be not less than twenty days from the
date of issue of the notice) on which objections, if any, to the making of such order shall be considered.
(4) On the date specified under sub-section (3), or on any subsequent date to which the proceedings
may be adjourned, the Magistrate shall consider any objection made by any person to whom notice was
sent, or by any other relative of the mentally ill person, and shall receive all such evidence as may be
produced by or on behalf of any such person or relative and after making such inquiry as the Magistrate
may deem fit, make or refrain from making the order of substitution:
Provided that, if the person on whose application the reception order was made is dead and any other
person is willing and is, in the opinion of the Magistrate, fit to undertake the duties and responsibilities
under this Act of the former person, the Magistrate shall, subject to the provisions contained in the
proviso to sub-section (1), make an order to that effect.
(5) In making any substitution order under this section, the Magistrate shall give preference to the
person who is the nearest relative of the mentally ill person, unless, for reasons to be recorded in writing
the Magistrate considers that giving such preference will not be in the interests of the mentally ill person.
(6) The Magistrate may make such order for the payment of the costs of an inquiry under this section
by any person or from out of the estate of the mentally ill person as he thinks fit.
(7) Any notice under sub-section (2) may be sent by post to the last known address of the person for
whom it is intended.
36. Officers competent to exercise powers and discharge functions of Magistrate under certain
sections.—In any area where a Commissioner of Police has been appointed, all the powers and functions
of the Magistrate under sections 23, 24, 25 and 28 may be exercised or discharged by the Commissioner
of Police and all the functions of an officer in charge of a police station under this Act may be discharged
by any police officer not below the rank of an Inspector.