80 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN MENTAL HOSPITALS patients were staying at the Dargah, brought in by their relatives with faith in the curative powers of the Dargah. The Collector had, however, denied any illtreatment of the patients. 8.7 The Commission got the case investigated inFebruary 1999 by the then Director General (Investigation) of the Commission. According to his report, 500 patients/devotees were staying inside the campus of the Dargah. 75% of them were Hindus and the rest were Muslims. About ICQ patients were found to be in chains. The patients were kept in thatched sheds and in verandahs. The report highlighted that similar places/Dargahs also existed in other areas of Tamil Nadu where mentally ill patients were chained and kept in the hope of a faith cure. 8.8 On considering these reports, the Commission directed the State Government of Tamil Nadu to get the entire matter examined by a body of e:qjerts. The report of the group of experts, however, stated that the complaint was exaggerated and added that there was no evidence of torture or compulsion by the Dargah authorities. The inmates had expressed satisfaction and faith in the cure of their mental illness, even though some of them had been kept in chains. 8.9 The Commission was dissatisfied with this approach to the issue. It decided, instead, to have the matter examined in greater detail by a Committee headed by the eminent psychiatrist Dr K. S. Mani of Bangalore. The Committee recommended that: • Patients cannot and should not be treated as cattle. Responsibility for admission and discharge must be in the hands of a qualified psychiatrist and cannot be left to the Dargah. • There should be strict supervision of drug intake by the patients. • Institutionalisation should be only for brief periods at a time and facilities should be ensured for rehabilitation programmes with emphasis on adequate social inputs from famUy members; • Family members should not be allowed to leave patients in the Dargah and to walk away; instead family members should be educated in respect of the nature of the mental illness. • Living conditions in the Dargahs should be vastly improved. NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION