Annual Report 2012-2013 functional in various Districts so as to pay equal attention to rural areas vis-à-vis urban areas; more emphasis on psychiatry in the curriculum of MBBS courses; initiate measures to move from custodial care to community based care for the cure and rehabilitation of mentally ill persons; and strengthen legal framework to check rampant sexual exploitation of mentally ill persons. Plight of Mentally Ill Persons Languishing in Chamatkari Hanumanji Temple in Chhindwara District of Madhya Pradesh 5.13 The Commission is also deeply concerned about the rights of persons with mental illness, especially those kept in chains and confined in a restricted space in religious places. The attention of the Commission was drawn towards the plight of mentally ill persons languishing in Chamatkari Hanumanji temple in Chhindwara District of Madhya Pradesh by an NGO, namely, Sane and Enthusiast Volunteers' Association of Calcutta (SEVAC). 5.14 In Chamatkari Hanumanji temple, there is a myth that with the blessing of the deity, mentally ill people can be cured. The temple has thus become a dumping ground for mentally ill persons. Besides, the NGO pointed out that owing to absence of any kind of mental health care delivery system in the vicinity, the mentally ill persons do not have access to psychiatric care and treatment. 5.15 In order to understand the gravity of the problem, the Commission, entrusted a pilot project to SEVAC for protecting the human rights of mentally ill persons languishing in the temple. The main objective of the project was to create awareness among the family members of mentally ill patients languishing in the temple and in the process bring them under the purview of psychiatric treatment. Its other objective was to carry out the groundwork for setting-up a psychiatric camp in the temple premises for diagnosis and counselling. 5.16 The final report of the project revealed the pathetic conditions of mentally ill persons suffering in the temple. These patients and their relatives either live in the temple premises or some guest house or jhopri nearby and at times even in open fields with no sanitation facilities. 5.17 During the course of the pilot project, 1,069 mentally ill patients were interviewed. They were in the age group of 15-30 years (55.75%). More than 32 per cent were in the age group of 31-50 years. Majority of these persons were daily wage earners (92%) and suffered from mental illness. Seventy-nine per cent of the caregivers, who were generally close relatives of the patients, stated that they were ready for psychiatric treatment provided it is accessible and the medicines are made available to the patients free of cost. Further, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the request of the Commission directed the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore to send its team to visit the Hanuman Temple and the Civil Hospital in Chhindwara District. The NIMHANS team suggested that an action plan be evolved to protect the rights of mentally ill persons languishing in the temple area. It also suggested a multi-pronged approach, 68 NHRC