CHANDAN KUMAR BANIK Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application which has its origin as a public interest litigation on a letter addressed to this court on the basis of a press publication with a photograph showing a mentally ill patient being chained in the hospital in question.

(2.) Notice was issued to the State government of West Bengal and an affidavit in answer to the notice has been filed. We appointed a Committee to inspect this mental hospital located at Mankundu in the District of Hooghli and , make a report to us about the conditions prevailing therein. The Committee inspected the hospital on 3/12/1989 in the presence of Shri bandopadhyay, I. A. S. who is the Sub-Divisional Officer of Chander Nagar and happens to be the administrator of the hospital. The Chief Medical Officer was also present during the inspection. The Committee has in its report gone into the various aspects like the administration, the condition of the hospital, the amenities to the patients and the scope for treatment available therein. Reference has also been made to the diet and staffing pattern of the hospital. On each aspect several defects have been pointed out.

(3.) The stand of the State is that the land came from a philanthropist and the trust took over the same, built the hospital, since the management was not appropriate, government took over the management and appointed the local sub-Divisional Officer as the Administrator. According to it there are several such hospitals in the State and there is adequacy of facility for treatment of mental patients. It has also been suggested in the counter-affidavit that whatprevails in this hospital seems to be the general prevailing condition in similar hospitals within the State and, therefore, no exceptional treatment should be given or provided by any judicial direction in regard to the hospital in question,