Report: India's Women 'Treated Worse Than Animals' in Institutions

This is such a disturbing story from India that we couldn't ignore it. Bravo to Human Rights Watch for its report and bringing attention to the issue. Something has to change.

 

NEW DELHI — Women and girls with intellectual disabilities or mental illness in India are subject to forced institutionalization in sometimes overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, verbal and physical abuse, and medication without consent, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday.

The group interviewed 52 women and girls who had been institutionalized because of mental disabilities in the last two years, as well as their families, staff members at the institutions where the patients were treated as well as doctors in four Indian states. The report found 31 cases of electroconvulsive therapy administered “without consent,” though in many cases familial consent replaced patient consent, said Dr. Sanjeev Jain, a psychiatrist in New Delhi.