Medical examination and detention of leprosy patients and lunatics.- (1)

Where it appears to the Government that any beggar detained in an institution under any order of a magistrate is of unsound mind or is suffering from leprosy, the Government may, by an order setting forth the grounds for the belief that the beggar is of unsound mind or is suffering from leprosy, order his removal to a mental hospital or a leper asylum or other place of safe custody, there to be kept and treated as the Government directs during the remainder of the term for which he has been ordered to be detained, or if on the expiration of that term, it is certified by a medical officer that it is necessary for the safety of the beggar or of others that he should be further detained under medical care or treatment, then until he is discharged according to law.

1. (2) Where it appears to the Government that the beggar has ceased to be of unsound mind, or is cured of leprosy, the Government shall, by an order direct the person having charge of the beggar if still liable to be kept in custody, send him to the institution from which he was removed or if the beggar is no longer liable to be kept in custody, order him to be discharged.
2. (3) Subject to the provision of sub-section (2) the provisions of section 31 of the Lunacy Act, 1912 (Central Act 4 of 1912) or section 14 of the Lepers Act, 1898 (Central Act 3 of 1898), or the corresponding provision of any other law in force in any area of the State, shall apply to every beggar confined in a mental hospital or a leper asylum under sub-section (1) after the expiration of the period for which he was

ordered to be detained; and the time during which a beggar is confined in a mental hospital or leper asylum under that sub-section shall be reckoned as part of the period for which he may be ordered by the magistrate to be detained: Provided that where the removal of a beggar due to unsoundness of mind or leprosy is immediately necessary, it shall be open to the authorities of the institution in which the beggar is detained to apply to a court having jurisdiction under the Lunacy Act, 1912 (Central Act 4 of 1912) or the Lepers Act, 1898 (Central Act 3 of 1898) or under any corresponding law in force in any area of the State for an immediate order of committal to a mental hospital or a leper asylum until such time as the orders of the Government can be obtained in the matter.