De-addiction centres should not be used to detain persons without their consent, under the guise of rehabilitation, the Delhi High Court today observed.
The court said that due to shortage of government-run facilities to address the problem of de-addiction, large number of such private centres had come up, giving rise to the problem of alleged detention of people.
A bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta emphasised that centres, which were responsible for the treatment and rehabilitation of its inmates, should not keep anyone without their free will.
"It is noted in the draft rules for registration of de-addiction centres in Delhi, that no inmates be kept in centres without their consent. These centres should not be used to detain persons under the guise of de-addiction without their consent," the court said.
Regarding the submission that several people were residing in these centres and if they were closed, where would the inmates go, the court said the centres which were running unauthorised should first stop taking in new inmates.
Therafter, the existing inmates could be shifted to the de-addiction centres run by the Delhi government.
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During the hearing, an aged lawyer came forward to narrate his horrific experience of being forcefully detained at one of the private centres for 21 months.
He claimed that he was forcefully sent there by his family which spent around Rs seven lakh for keeping him in the centre where he was given overdose of medicines which severely affected his health.
The lawyer, who appeared to be in his 70s, said he was not allowed to meet his brother and was made to wash utensils and clothes at the advanced stage of his life.
The amicus curaie, appointed in the matter to assist the court, said there could be many others who were detained at such centres without their will.
The court asked the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi -- East, South and North -- to appoint health officers for visiting the centres and to ascertain who all are living there with or without their consent.
It asked the counsel for the MCDs to prepare a compilation of all the centres functioning at the district level and also upload the details on their respective websites.
The court asked the SDMC to treat the closure order given to certain centres as notice and give them a hearing before taking any decision.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on July 9.
The court had in November last year ordered that de-addiction centres running illegally in the national capital should be immediately shut down.
It had noted that "unwanted elders are dumped" at such places that operate in the guise of old homes.