KARACHI (Web Desk) – The Sindh Assembly has made it mandatory through an amendment to the Sindh Mental Health Act, 2013 that a person who attempts to kill himself or is accused of blasphemy be examined by a psychiatrist and given treatment if found suffering from a mental disorder.
The legislation was part of five of the six government bills passed by the house on Friday when it reassembled after a two-day hiatus.
Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, who tabled all the bills, referring to the Sindh Mental Health (Amendment) Bill, 2015, said providing relief to a person who attempted to commit suicide or was accused of blasphemy was something that a court would decide. The bill merely made their assessment by a psychiatrist mandatory and courts could decide whether or not to reduce their sentence if the accused was found to be suffering from a mental disorder, the minister said.
Another legislation passed on Friday was the Sindh Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that provided a legal cover to the Sindh government to its various modes of appointments including by transfer, or absorption, deputation and ancillary matters.
The other bills, which were passed unanimously one after the other, were: The Sindh Coastal Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2015, The Sindh Finance (Amendment) Bill 2015, and the Sindh Sound System (Regulation) Bill, 2015.
The coastal development bill pertained to membership to the newly created district Sujawal in the governing body of the Sindh Coastal Development Authority.
The finance bill amendment was aimed at increasing revenue by revising the rates of royalty and cess on coal. In the bill, the words ‘Rs10 per metric tonne’ were replaced with ‘Rs50 per truck per trip’.
The sound system bill prescribes punishment up to six months and a fine not less than Rs20,000 and up to Rs50,000 for using sound system to cause public nuisance, spreading hatred material for incitement of terrorism or commission of any offence in the province.
The only bill whose consideration was deferred to the next assembly session on a request of the opposition pertains to The Sindh Information of Temporary Residents Bill, 2015.
