KARACHI: The Pakistan Association for Mental Health on Thursday welcomed Supreme Court’s judgement converting the death sentence awarded to three mentally ill prisoners to life term and described it as a “historical judgement”. The three prisoners have spent 14, 18 and 30 years in jail and had been on death row.

The association, in a press release issued here, said that the Feb 10 judgement of SC’s Lahore registry would be celebrated by the legal community, all human rights organisations as well those working for mental health on this day every year.

It also noted with great pleasure that the apex court ordered the federal and provincial governments to amend the relevant prison laws, Pakistan Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code to replace the stigmatising words ‘lunatic’, ‘insane’ and ‘unsound mind’ with words like ‘mentally ill’ or ‘mental disorder’.

The association appreciated the SC directive for sensitising physicians and the legal community, including judicial academics, to arrange for such activities that could help address this sensitive issue.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2021