Tamil Nadu - Chennai

French citizen ordered set free

CHENNAI: A 61-year-old French citizen, who was lodged in the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) here, was ordered to be set at liberty by the Madras High Court on Monday.

On a habeas corpus petition filed by his daughter, a Division Bench of Justices D. Murugesan and S. Palanivelu said prima facie it found that the police had not acted fairly in respect of 115 persons while treating them as mentally ill.

As for the remaining persons, the court directed the IMH Director to submit details of the inmates admitted en masse by the police recently by virtue of an order passed by the judicial magistrate under section 24 of the Mental Health Act.

While ordering that the detenu be set at liberty, the Bench said he should be accompanied by his daughter.

Nathalle Vandanbyvange said her father Roger Vandenbyvange, a French citizen, had come to India to seek the blessings of Mata Amritanandamayi. He seemed to have lost his passport and other travel documents along with his belongings.

He did not know any language other than French. Having lost his travel papers and belongings and unable to communicate with anyone, he was wandering on the roads at Kanyakumari. As he had no money, he had to seek alms. Since he did not return to France well past the date of expiry of his visa, enquiries were made with the French Embassy, which said Mr. Roger was admitted to the IMH here. It was a shock to her that her father, a sane person, was admitted to a mental hospital. She requested the hospital officials to discharge him, but they refused.

(The police in Kanyakumari district rounded up the 115 persons on July 9.)

The Bench said that in view of the callousness in duty, it was directing the IMH to submit a report on 114 others by August 4.

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