NEW DELHI: Each person suffering from paranoid schizophrenia has to be dealt with differently, the Delhi High Court has observed, directing the Railway Protection Special Force to reinstate a constable who was diagnosed with the mental disorder.
The high court quashed three office orders passed by the authorities by which the constable was proceeded for compulsory retirement and directed that he be reinstated with 50 per cent backwages with effect from September 2014.
It said those suffering from paranoid schizophrenia require constant guidance, assistance, medication and treatment as they may act erratically and their behaviour may be fluctuating and, by and large, they are neither harmful to the people at large nor a threat to the society.
"But, yes, they may, in a fit of rage, be a danger for some time. Those again depend upon the conditions, situations and surroundings prevalent then and most of all the gravity of the illness involved and may not, by and large, be present in all cases," a bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Saurabh Banerjee said.
The high court said the authorities cannot apply a straight jacket formula as the situations of those suffering from this mental order differ from person to person and from stage to stage.
"Each individual suffering with the mental disorder paranoid schizophrenia has to be dealt with differently just like each doctor prescribes different medicines to different patients suffering from similar disease(s)," it said.
Paranoid schizophrenia is a mental disease relating to a particular pattern of behaviour resulting in hallucinations, delusions or fears and is dependent upon a combination of surroundings, triggers, events or happenings.
The court passed the verdict on a petition by the constable challenging his compulsory retirement from service and seeking reinstatement with full back wages and consequential benefits.
The pettioner was appointed in Railway Protection Special Force in September 1996 and was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
The man was charge-sheeted in 2009 for threatening to open fire in the battalion campus at Rail Bhavan or kill himself if he was not immediately posted in headquarter.
It was alleged that he was habitual of absenting from the duty without any information and neglecting orders of superiors.
In 2010, the constable was awarded the punishment of compulsory retirement.
The high court said, admittedly, the two charges in the 2009 charge sheet are relating to paranoid schizophrenia of the petitioner and they are inter-dependent upon his mental condition.
"Though the petitioner is suffering from a mental disorder paranoid schizophrenia, he has been declared asymptomatic and is fit to work without arms and was diligently performing his services. The same has not been disputed by the respondents at any stage till now. It has never been the case of the respondents that the petitioner is suffering from an extreme form of paranoid schizophrenia, which is/ can be degenerative or that he cannot perform his duties by taking due care and precaution," the bench said.
It added, "In our view, if a chance is given, he would be able to discharge his duties, albeit of course with some assistance and guidance from the respondents."