'No Transparency, No Accountability; Worse Than Jail': Kerala High Court Considers Social Audit Of Mental Health Centres, Press Access

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (September 1) observed that it is considering having a social audit of all the Mental Health Centres in the State.

The Division Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Basant Balaji today recorded in its order:

"There is a suggestion in the Bar by the learned amici curiae that there should be a social audit of the centres with even personnel of the press being given restricted or supervised access. This is a suggestion that we will keep in mind and to act in due course because we do not see that the concepts of secrecy that has been employed until now giving any tangible benefits either to the patients or to the bystanders in the centres."

The Bench orally added:

"No one knows what is happening there, not even the press…No transparency, no accountability, nothing. Worse than jail. We are told that this is far better now…We will have right thinking citizens to visit this place now. That is the next step. We will make the press also go in…Privacy is being misused and being abused. We will have a social audit by most eminent people we can choose. We will send the press also in. Let them also see what is happening. Let there not be secrecy."

The Court was considering an ongoing public interest litigation initiated in 1996 following the Apex Court's direction in Sheela Barse v. Union of India. 

The Bench had earlier personally visited the three Centres located in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kozhikode, and had issued a set of directions to urgently improve the conditions there. However, noting that conditions still remain unchanged, the Court today pulled up the State and observed:

"Our earlier orders seem to be still not complied. This is an abject shame if true! The conditions we saw in the centres are so abhoric that we had even reserved our words thinking that the government will respond appropriately given some time. Our visit to the first centre was over a month ago but we do not see any change in the ground level as of now. We believe that our words are not being taken seriously. This could be because there is a shroud of secrecy in the centres primarily since no one is given access including the press. The manner of violation of human rights – perhaps unintended and unwitting – is so rampant that no State can lose even a second to address it. However, this is not seen done!"

The Court further orally remarked that as a constitutional court, it cannot turn a blind eye towards the issue and that the State should also act upon its directions:

"The so-called, I don't want to use that name – Mental Health Centre. It is not a Health Centre. It is a horror place…Every human right is violated in that system…The doctors and nurses, the efforts that they have taken is unbelievable, they have sustained themselves…. Horrendous things are happening there. How can we allow our citizens to be treated this, we do not know...As a constitutional court, we cannot subscribe to this violation of human rights…If one person from the State is found to be suffering from a human rights violation, as abusive and gross as this, we will intervene…Things happening there are worse than war crimes...These lives don't matter even to the State...If the State cannot do it, they should tell us we cannot do it, we have no money. This is not the way the State should be reacting to an inspection done by two judges of this Court. Why are these people made to live like this?"

The Court has also requested the Advocate General to represent the State in this matter.

Last month, the Court had sought the State's response to a suggestion to rename 'Mental Health Centres', in order to remove the stigma attached to the words. 

Case No: WP(C) No.16603 of 2026

Case Title: Case Title: The High Court Legal Aid Committee v. The State of Kerala and Ors.