Supreme Court On States Redesignating Old-Age Homes As Halfway Homes

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli said halfway homes and rehabilitation of the cured people must take place pro-actively across the country by the states

The Supreme Court on Wednesday deprecated the practice by states of re-designating old-age homes and other custodial institutions as halfway homes for people who have been cured of mental illness saying it would not subserve the purpose of rehabilitation. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli said halfway homes and rehabilitation of the cured people must take place pro-actively across the country by the states/UTs and mere re-designating the existing facilities will not serve the purpose. The top court noted that Maharashtra has decided to issue 186 persons who were overstaying in mental health care institutions to beggars' homes or other custodial institutions. It said that after the issue was highlighted by the court in its previous order, a letter was written on July 21 by the chief secretary to expedite the process of shifting these persons from beggars home/old age home to half way homes.