Karnataka High Court issues notice on plea challenging prohibition of Electro Convulsive Therapy under Mental Health Act

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday sought the response of the Central and State governments in a petition seeking to quash Section 94(3) of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, which restrains the use of Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT)..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum issued notice in the matter and directed the respondents to file statement of objections within four weeks. .The Court also permitted, the petitioner Dr Vinod G Kulkarni to implead National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) as a party to the petition."Whether the ECT can be given or not has to be answered by some expert body. Therefore, we permit the petitioner to implead NIMHANS, through its Director, for obtaining expert opinion," the Court ordered..The petition stated that patients with mental illnesses can often harbour suicidal ideas and make suicide attempts. In this context, it is argued that ECT, erroneously called "shock treatment", if used for such illnesses as an emergency treatment, can undo suicidal ideas and attempts.Further, it is said that by administering modified ECT, mentally affected patients can be saved from death due to suicide or any other disastrous consequences..Referring to section 94 (3) of the Mental Health Act, the plea says,"This is tantamount to being massively contrary to one another. The contradictory statements suffer from the vice of the doctrine of colourable legislation.".It is also claimed that the prevention of use of the ECT as a form of treatment violates the rights of such patients guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution..Thus, the petition prayed for a direction to allow the use of ECT treatment on patients who harbour suicidal ideas, by a qualified psychiatrist with a minimum degree of MD (Psychiatry) from a recognised University. .This apart, the plea also prayed for a direction to appoint a joint expert committee headed by a retired Supreme Court/High Court judge and comprising heads of the Department of Psychiatry of Central Institutes like NIMHANS, PGI Chandigarh etc. .The matter will be next heard on October 27.