Ranchi-based National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL) and Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) entered into an agreement on Friday for a collaborative relationship between the two academic institutions.

“The MoU between these two institutes would help the persons with mental illness and their caregivers to exercise their legal rights and entitlements,” said CIP director Dr Basudeb Das.

“Nowadays, medico-legal issues, as well as human rights-related issues affecting the interests and well-being of the people having mental disorders are on the rise and those people and their kith and kin often have to face ‘social ostracism’, ‘marginalisation’ and ‘stigmatisation’ by the society and its people and agencies,” added Dr Das.

The CIP director further said that people with mental disorders are considered to be a highly vulnerable segment of the population with respect to violation or denial of their human rights or fundamental rights.

“The basic objectives of this MoU are: to develop intensive academic, research and practice-based collaborative relationship between these two apex institutes in the fields of juridical sciences and mental health respectively,” said Das.

The MoU was inked on the sidelines of a two-day symposium on “Medico-legal aid to persons with mental illness: challenges and way forward”, organised jointly by NUSRL and the Centre for Legal Aid, which concluded on Friday.