*7-FEB-2012* *Amruta Byatnal*
*Santosh Mane hijacked a bus before killing eight and injuring over 30 people* *PUNE* : A Pune court on Monday concluded that bus driver Santosh Mane who killed eight and injured more than 30 people is not mentally unfit, going by the medical report submitted by the government-run Yerwada Mental Hospital. The report said the findings were not sufficient to diagnose a major psychiatric illness. Mane has now been sent to magisterial custody till February 18. On January 25, Mane hijacked a bus and went on a rampage across the city. The 40-year-old driver employed by Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) had been kept under psychiatric observation since January 28. The report said that going by “serial mental status examinations conducted by the panel of psychiatrists, facts communicated by the ward staff and psychometric evaluation in our opinion, findings are not sufficient to diagnose a major psychiatric illness at present.” Mane was produced in Judicial Magistrate First Class Umeshchandra More's court on Monday evening. When asked by the judge to reveal his name, age, occupation, residence, native place, tenure of service, and present area where he was being kept, he answered satisfactorily, the court said. It said expert opinion was binding considering the facts and circumstances. When asked by the judge if he wished to say anything, Mane said: “This has not been caused by my hands.” Mane has been charged under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 381 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code, in addition to offences related to the damage to public property. Advocate M.K. Agarwal said he would represent Mane. Pune Bar Association had appealed to lawyers to not represent Mane as “he was a threat to society”. However, according to a Supreme Court order, every accused has a right to get a lawyer. Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Yerwada Mental Hospital, Vilas Bhailume told The Hindu that though the panel of four psychiatrists had not come across “sufficient findings” to prove that Mane was mentally ill, the possibility of psychiatric illness “cannot be denied”. “In the report submitted by the hospital to the court, we have also added that considering Mane's history of mental instability and the findings of the Sassoon hospital psychiatrist (which said that Mane be sent for psychiatric examination), the possibility of mental illness cannot be denied or ignored.” However, the court did not comment on this. The court issued a show cause notice to the police, for “providing false information regarding the mental status of the accused”. The police on January 28 stated that according to a Sassoon hospital report dated January 27, the accused Santosh Mane needed to be kept under psychiatric observation. However, the court observed that no such report has been filed by the police. The report by the Sassoon hospital psychiatrist has been dated January 25. *The court's decision is based on the medical report submitted by Yerwada Mental Hospital* * * *Mane had been kept under psychiatric observation since the rampage on January 28* http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2867769.ece -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
