Perinatal mental health and the justice delivery system in India

Ritika Behl1, Vivek Nemane2

  • 1Research Scholar, Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, Pune, India; Assistant Professor, Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bengaluru, India.

PubMed

On 20 April 2022 the Sessions Court of Greater Mumbai sentenced a postpartum depressed woman to lifetime imprisonment for abandoning and murdering her twin girl child (In re: The State of Maharashtra). In the absence of a diagnosis or treatment for postpartum depression at the time when the crime was committed, a plea of insanity was denied. This article considers how the absence of services for perinatal mental health in India may challenge the delivery of criminal justice in cases of infanticide.

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