A “Ray of Hope”, Daily Brief January 31, 2024

“There is no exit policy.”

In one short sentence, a staff member thus summed up the core problem at Asha Kiran, a government-run shelter for people with disabilities in Delhi, India. Most people languishing there have been abandoned by their families and have no choice but to remain institutionalized.

Conditions are grim for those trapped in Asha Kiran. Nearly 1000 men, women, and children are held in a facility meant to house 570. Overcrowding, poor hygiene, and a lack of adequately trained staff compound the problems.

Some are confined to a bed with limited to no activity, at risk of irreversibly stunted physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development. And most of them will live their entire lives there, in Asha Kiran.

A devastating twist is that Asha Kiran literally means “ray of hope.”

Institutionalizing a person with a disability without their consent is a form of arbitrary detention – essentially being jailed for no crime. Asha Kiran residents are detained behind locked gates, with little if any opportunity to go outside or even move around the facility. When my HRW colleagues visit, staff tell them very plainly: it’s like a prison.

And, of course, Asha Kiran is hardly an isolated case in India. There are hundreds of custodial institutions like this for people with disabilities across the country. Worse still, authorities are putting money into building new institutions and refurbishing existing ones to hold ever more people.

This approach runs contrary to India’s obligations under international law, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

What authorities should be doing instead is getting people out of these prison-like facilities by funding community-based services to support these people’s right to independent living.

But there is a “ray of hope” in this story, after all. The governing council of Asha Kiran, in its final meetings in 2023, formally recognized their obligations and resolved to make a change. They adopted landmark recommendations to create and implement an action plan to end this lifelong warehousing of people with disabilities.

The plan would involve developing voluntary, community-based assisted living services and other forms of support to enable people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities to live independently in their communities. 

The Delhi government now needs to act swiftly on these critical recommendations of the governing board.

Ultimately, the “ray of hope” here is that human rights principles might be upheld, and the dignity of these people will finally be recognized and respected.