Rights-Based Safeguards Vs. Systemic Implementation: A Systematic Review Of Statutory Compliance, Intersectoral Governance, And Judicial Enforcement Under India’s Mental Healthcare Act 2017
Supraja Thogarapalli Jayasankaran, PhD Scholar, Jain (Deemed to be University)
ABSTRACT
Background: India’s Mental Healthcare Act 2017 (MHCA) recognizes the right of persons with mental illness to treatment, community living and non- discrimination, and provides for certain safeguards. The Act does not create corresponding institutions, and did not immediately improve access to mental health care, though it established a legal right to mental health care. The aim is to review the observable compliance gap in law, intersectoral governance and the courts. Methods: We analyzed 2020-2025 published and unpublished studies, and institutional records, and court judgments, and used doctrinal analysis to interpret the MHCA. Results: In 2022, a South Indian government notification stated that most of the administratively formed Boards had ceased to function; and, in 2023, a Parliamentary Standing Committee report stated that Mental Health Review Boards were unformed in most of the states. In 2024, 92.5% of the 600 surveyed psychiatrists stated they were dissatisfied with the MHCA and 66.5% felt procedurally obstructed. In 2025, a survey of 235 health insurance policies showed that 88 of the policies included mental health benefits. An audit of 222 magistrate’s court orders for psychiatric commitment at a tertiary care hospital in 2025 showed that 38 of the orders cited the MHCA. In 2025, the Supreme Court ordered reports from the statutory authorities and later on, gave directions to the National Human Rights Commission to continue monitoring. Conclusion: The evidence shows an implementation gap in staffing and functioning of the systems, intersectoral governance and supervision. National compliance cannot be generalized from the present heterogeneous studies. More indicators are needed to test the practical enforceability of rights.
Keywords: Mental Healthcare Act 2017; mental health rights; statutory compliance; review boards; intersectoral governance; judicial enforcement; India; evidence synthesis.
