High Court closes PIL on forcible haircut to persons with mental health conditions
Srinagar, Nov 2: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has closed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking its intervention for stopping “forcible” trimming of beards and hair of persons with mental health conditions and the “distressing” practice of bathing them on camera.
A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal closed the proceedings in the PIL after the petitioners and Team KYC reached a consensus that the Team would delete from its website forthwith the videos showing “forcible trimming of hair and beard of “vulnerable individuals”.
Four Law students from the University of Kashmir, Khateeb Ali Buch, Sheeraz Ahmad Najar, Tehseen Zahoor Badoo and Mehvish Manzoor had petitioned court and sought various directions.
According to the petitioners, ‘horrific videos” showing the forcible trimming of the hair and beard of “vulnerable individuals” were being uploaded on Facebook and other social media platforms by the organisation “Team KYC”.
According to the PIL, in these videos, it could be clearly seen that the members of the organisation were forcibly trimming the hair and beards of such individuals, bathing them on camera, which infringes their right to privacy and dignity.
“The individuals being targeted can be seen protesting and screaming, but are rendered helpless and are being overpowered by the members of the organisation,” said the PIL.
In the PIL, the students said that they wrote an application to the State Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities in August 2024 to protect the rights of these individuals and to take cognisance of the incidents and direct the relevant authorities to take action.
However, they said no action was taken as the videos still continue to surface on social media, and thus they had to approach the court to seek its intervention to stop the blatant abuse of the vulnerable individuals and the subsequent video recording of the incidents and uploading them on various social media platforms.
In December last year, the court had directed the State Commissioner, Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to file an affidavit for the purpose of disclosing the activities carried out by it in terms of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.
The PIL had urged the government to protect and safeguard the fundamental rights of the disabled persons suffering from mental disability. It had also sought to establish and enforce guidelines for the protection of disabled individuals from any form of abuse or exploitation, including those perpetrated by non-governmental entities.
The PIL had also sought direction to remove the videos and social media posts made by team KYC, violating the Right to privacy of the affected individuals.
While the court closed the PIL, it, however, said: “In the event any fresh cause of action arises, the petitioners shall be at liberty to move the official respondents by submitting an appropriate representation”.
The representation shall be taken cognisance of and dealt with in accordance with law by the authorities, if filed, the court said.
