The Jammu and Kashmir Reconciliation, Trauma Healing and Dignity Bill has come as studies have shown that mental health issues have shown a significant rise in Kashmir since the eruption of armed militancy in 1989
Detainees' families and political leaders say there is a need to ensure an upgrade in the mental health facilities
Assabah Khan, 38, is facing mental trauma since her husband and separatist leader, Farooq Ahmad Dar, was lodged at Tihar jail over nine years back on charges of allegedly provoking the youth to resort to stone pelting on security forces in Kashmir.
An officer with the prestigious Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS), she was earlier sacked by the government, part of the removal of relatives of separatist leaders. She says that she is unable to contact her husband over the phone, and his health condition has deteriorated in prison. “I had to get the orders from the court for the medical check-up of my husband, who had vomited blood. I don’t understand why he has been lodged in Tihar jail . If an incident has happened in Kashmir, how can one be detained hundreds of kilometres away?” she asks.
This is not an isolated example. In Kashmir, mental health issues have shown a rise after the eruption of armed militancy . Due to the gravity of the situation, opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader and legislator Waheed Para has given a notice to move a private member bill in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly seeking to create a statutory framework for reconciliation, trauma healing and psychosocial rehabilitation in the Union Territory, which has witnessed decades of violence and political instability.
Para believes that the bill would be a landmark legislation that would ensure justice to the victims of violence in Kashmir. “You see, there are people who have been detained as overground workers, and the surveillance has only increased, which has added to the mental health problems in Kashmir,” he says.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reconciliation, Trauma Healing, and Dignity Bill, 2026, is aimed at strengthening mental health services in Kashmir. It notes that the law would establish a, “ a statutory framework for trauma healing, psychosocial rehabilitation, restorative dialogue, and reconciliation, to give effect to the right to life with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, to operate in harmony with the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 and to promote human dignity, social cohesion, resilience, and sustainable peace.”
“Implementation of the Bill will involve initial expenditure of rupees 50 crore from the Consolidated Fund of the Union Territory on strengthening mental health services, training and engagement of professionals, community-based healing programmes and monitoring and administration,” the Bill notes.
“Since the year 2019, there has been an acknowledged decline in incidents of violence, creating an opportunity to consolidate peace through humane, preventive, and forward-looking measures. Peace is not merely the absence of violence but the ability of individuals, communities, and institutions to address differences and grievances through peaceful and restorative means. The prolonged exposure to violence and instability has imposed profound and differentiated human costs upon various sections of society, including Kashmiri Muslims, Kashmiri Pandits, and members of the Indian security forces, among others,” it adds.
The Bill further states that the “unaddressed psychological trauma perpetuates cycles of fear, mistrust, anger, social fragmentation, and inter-generational harm.’’
“The right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India has been judicially interpreted to include the right to live with dignity, mental well-being, and psychological integrity,” it adds.
The bill has come at a time when cases of mental health problems have witnessed a sharp spike in Kashmir. A joint survey carried out in 2016 by Doctors Without Borders, the Department of Psychology at the University of Kashmir, and the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences revealed a significant rise in mental health disorders.
The survey found that nearly 1.8 million young people, comprising 45 per cent of the population, were experiencing mental distress. It further noted that 41 per cent of respondents showed symptoms of probable depression, 26 per cent signs of probable anxiety, and 19 per cent symptoms of probable post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
“On an average, an adult living in the Kashmir Valley has witnessed or experienced 7.7 traumatic events during his or her lifetime. Exposure to multiple traumatic events was associated with mental disorders. We found a dose-response relationship between traumatic events experienced or witnessed and the development of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD,” the MSF survey noted.
The survey further said that approximately 1.6 million adults (41 per cent) in Kashmir are facing significant symptoms of depression, while 415,000 (10 per cent) met the diagnostic criteria for severe depression. It added that 1 million adults (26 per cent) have “significant symptoms of an anxiety-related disorder.”
Furthermore, 1 in 5 adults (19 per cent) or 771,000 individuals, were living with significant PTSD symptoms, with 248,000 (6 per cent) meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
According to doctors, mental health illness has become more severe over time, and the number of people receiving treatment for anxiety and depression has steadily increased.
At IMHANS in Srinagar, around 300 to 400 patients receive treatment at the Outpatient Department (OPD) each day. According to official statistics, a total of 2.03 lakh mental health patients were examined at the OPD of IMHANS Srinagar in 2024, while nearly 2,000 were admitted to the hospital.
The 2016 MSF survey found that weekly OPD registrations at IMHANS Srinagar rose from 100 in 1980 to 850 in 2016, reflecting a sharp increase since the rise of militancy after 1989.
Advocate G. N. Shaheen says that the mental health condition of the people who faced detention has been poor. “A person in prison shouldn’t be deprived of his or her rights. I have seen cases of mental health distress among the detainees. There are provisions in the jail manual that proper health, which includes better mental well-being, should be ensured. You don't need a sick detainee in a prison, you need a healthy one, and when we talk of health, it means also the mental health,” he says.
The Trauma Healing Bill also comes as the mental health services are lacking in rural areas of Kashmir. Sheikh Khurshid, MLA of Awami Ittehad Part, says that the mental health services remain unavailable in the Kupwara belt of the Union Territory.
He says that psychiatric care is particularly missing in the rural parts of the Kupwara district. “The problem is that when you have curbs continuing on people, illegal arrests taking place, and people subjected to surveillance, then the mental health issues will be there. The mental health facilities will improve only when the harassment of people in the garb of security stops,” he says.
Health department officials have admitted that the mental health services are lacking in rural setups. A National Health Mission (NHM) official says that there was both a shortage of manpower as well as infrastructure for mental health care services in several districts of Kashmir.
“We have decentralised several specialized facilities, like the ENT and ophthalmology, from the tertiary care hospitals to the primary and secondary care level. But when it comes to mental health, there are not enough psychiatrists available in Kashmir.”
“We have, however, set up a mental health helpline to offer advice to people and have also kept medicines available in the rural hospitals,” he adds.
