A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has pulled up the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights for exceeding its jurisdiction by ordering a psychiatric treatment for a woman.
The Bench comprising Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice C. Jayachandran impleaded the commission as it was of the prima facie opinion that the commission had exceeded its jurisdiction.
The Bench directed the commission to file an affidavit explaining the reasons why it had issued such an order. The court issued the directive recently when a writ petition filed by K. Balakrishnan from Kodungallur, father of the woman, seeking a directive to produce his daughter and two grandchildren came up for hearing.
The Bench observed that “we are more distressed by the manner in which the commission proceeded in the matter.” It was appalling that the commission thought it fit to direct the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO), to submit a mental status report of the woman, the court added.
The Bench observed that the writ petition narrated a sad tale of marital discord, from the very inception of the marriage and the wife being evicted from the marital home after giving birth to two children and the harassment she had to undergo at the hands of her husband.
The court interacted with the woman and her two children who were produced before the court, along with a psychiatrist. The doctor told the court that as of now, the woman did not seem to be suffering from any psychotic illness and that her disturbed mental status as of now was only due to the stress she had undergone in her life and because of the forceful admission in a mental institution and separation from her children.
The court allowed the woman and her children to go with her father.
