FORENSIC PSY HIATRY IN INDIA imprisonment and fine of Rs.2 lakh is fixed. It is made a non bailable offense and death penalty can be given. Those possessing drug have to prove that they are carrying the drugs as they are addicts and thus prove not guilty. If they are in possession of' small quantity' which is not fixed by law, they often land up in jail. But if they admit their offense and are proved sick and they ask for treatment they can be treated, for which we do not have enough facilities in the country, iii) The Juvenile Justice Act, 1989 has replaced the earlier Children's Act of 1960. It caters to the need of the juvenile delinquents as well as the other children needing protection. Unfortunately the state of affairs of the Children's Homes is so deplorable that the court committed children often run away from these institutions, iv) Human Rights - India being a signatory to the U.N. Human Rights Commission Chapter VIII of the Indian Mental Health Act deals with the prevention of cruelty and maltreatment of the mentally ill. At present the commission has appointed a committee to go round the various mental health institutions to understand the state of affairs in the country. v) Act for the disabled, 1994, by which there are various provisions made for the physically disabled and there is a special inclusion, of the chronically mentally ill as well as the mentally retarded among the disabled to receive the benefits in the form of employment, institutional stay, disability determination for compensation and insurance coverage, vi) The Consumer Protection Act of 1986 which safeguards the interest and welfare of the consumer viz. the patient who takes treatment from the doctors and hospitals has alerted the psychiatrists also, as any acts of omission are penalized and compensation is given to the patients provided the application is made within two years. vii) Civil Forensic Psychiatry deals with the conservation and guardianship, child custody determination, parental competence, termination of parental rights, child abuse/neglect, testamentary capacity, psychiatric negligence and malpractice and personal litigation issues. viii) Criminal forensic psychiatry concerns with competence to stand trial, testimonial capacity, voluntariness of confessions, insanity defense, diminished capacity, sentencing considerations and release of persons who have been acquitted by reason of insanity. Legal regulation of psychiatry includes civil involuntary commitment, voluntary hospitalization, confidentiality, right to treatment, right to refuse treatment, informed consent, professional liability and professional ethical guidelines. Though these legal provisions are existing in books of law they are seldom practiced. Under section 309 of IPC, attempted suicide, suicide and parasuicide are punishable. TKus if a person commits suicide and dies cannot be punished but a person who survives after the attempt has to be reported to the police for punishment rather than be treated for his condition. According to Justice Jahangirdar rather than considering it a cry for help the law has considered it as a crime. From the legal provisions and issues connected with them at the present juncture, we will turn to second area i.e. the teaching and training facilities in forensic psychiatry in India. As far as the undergraduate medical students are concerned they study a subject Forensic Medicine which does not highlight any psychiatric aspects. Even in the faculty of law the students are not exposed to legal aspects of psychiatry. The postgraduate students of psychiatry are just aware about the Indian Mental Health Act but are not taught forensic psychaitry as a subject. The law enforcement agencies viz. the police officers are not taught about forensic psychiatry during their training. So also the judicial authorities often are unaware about the implications of some of the psychiatric conditions. Even when we have a speciality section of forensic psychiatry in Indian Psychiatric Society for over a decade, there have been Annual CME programs so far, there have been very few seminars at the annual conference and hardly any publications. There are hardly any 183