100Duties of police officers in respect of persons with mental illness

(1) Every officer in-charge of a police station shall have a duty--

(a) to take under protection any person found wandering at large within the limits of the police station whom the officer has reason to believe has mental illness and is incapable of taking care of himself; or

(b) to take under protection any person within the limits of the police station whom the officer has reason to believe to be a risk to himself or others by reason of mental illness.

(2) The officer in-charge of a police station shall inform the person who has been taken into protection under sub-section (1), the grounds for taking him into such protection or his nominated representative, if in the opinion of the officer such person has difficulty in understanding those grounds.

(3) Every person taken into protection under sub-section (1) shall be taken to the nearest public health establishment as soon as possible but not later than twenty-four hours from the time of being taken into protection, for assessment of the person's healthcare needs.

(4) No person taken into protection under sub-section (1) shall be detained in the police lock up or prison in any circumstances.

(5) The medical officer in-charge of the public health establishment shall be responsible for arranging the assessment of the person and the needs of the person with mental illness will be addressed as per other provisions of this Act as applicable in the particular circumstances.

(6) The medical officer or mental health professional in-charge of the public mental health establishment if on assessment of the person finds that such person does not have a mental illness of a nature or degree requiring admission to the mental health establishment, he shall inform his assessment to the police officer who had taken the person into protection and the police officer shall take the person to the person's residence or in case of homeless persons, to a Government establishment for homeless persons.

(7) In case of a person with mental illness who is homeless or found wandering in the community, a First Information Report of a missing person shall be lodged at the concerned police station and the station house officer shall have a duty to trace the family of such person and inform the family about the whereabouts of the person.