Breaking them bad: How unregulated rehab centres are peddling violence, re-addiction

NEW DELHI: On March 27, an inmate at a de-addiction centre in northwest Delhi’s Alipur was brutally killed after a scuffle with another inmate, a chemical engineer. There seemed no intervention as the suspect, aged 27, hit, stabbed and slit another inmate’s throat in what appeared to be the fallout of an exchange of expletives.

A little over three months before this incident, a 28-year-old inmate was brutally thrashed and ‘killed’ inside a de-addiction centre in southwest Delhi’s Dhichao Kalan. Police arrested the centre’s owner on charges of culpable homicide. Two years ago, inmates in Sonia Vihar and Paschim Vihar were beaten to death by peers or staff.

The incidents have raised concerns that some facilities function more like ‘re-addiction’ spaces, rather than rehabilitation centres. Frequent incidents of violence, a large number of which are under-reported being non-fatal or accidental, have turned the spotlight on such facilities, which have mushroomed across the city in the past few years.

Delhi has both govt-run and private centres by NGOs that are supposed to register themselves and follow a set of govt guidelines. Then there are centres which run without any approval in dingy lanes and shady, two-three-room flats as ‘NGO initiatives’. Here, violence is not the only problem. These places, probe in many cases has revealed, are front for dodgy activities.

While regulations exist on paper — including mandatory registration under the State Mental Health Authority as per the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 — enforcement remains uneven. According to officials, only about 50 centres are formally listed, even as the actual number of facilities operating in the city is believed to be far higher.

Last year, police had busted a ‘de-addiction centre’ in west Delhi, allegedly a front for drug trafficking and other illegal activities. With no registration or certification, this privately-run centre served as a hub for peddlers who would source drugs, package them and sell them to youth, investigation had revealed.

With the rise in the drugs menace, private de-addiction and rehabilitation centres have evolved into a lucrative business involving aggressive marketing and solicitation, said a senior cop from the anti-narcotics cell. “There was a time when we either got to know about these centres through crude, handwritten scribbles on walls that read ‘Guarantee Nasha Chhudayein’ and had a phone number,” he said.

Today, there is a sophisticated digital onslaught, often designed to exploit vulnerability. “Families are now bombarded by a flurry of Instagram ads and choreographed reels that present a sanitised, appealing version of recovery, often featuring staged yoga sessions, healthy, hygienic diet and serene living conditions that do not exist in reality,” he added.

This digital veneer is complemented by YouTube testimonials that frequently hide the grim conditions behind high-production values. Beyond the screen, recruitment remains rooted in aggressive local solicitation, and word-of-mouth recommendations are often manufactured by paid ‘agents’ or former inmates who receive commissions for every referral.

The rapid mushrooming of private de-addiction centres has been often by a lucrative cycle of financial exploitation, where patients are treated more as commodities than individuals in need of care. Private facilities charge an exorbitant amount, becoming ‘high-yield investments’ for unregulated entities.

For many inmates, however, the reality inside these centres remains stark. Nishu (name changed), who has been admitted to several facilities, said a centre in Palam charged Rs 6,000 a month, but “didn’t even have basic medicines”. “If we had a fever, treatment would come after two days,” he said. Another centre charged Rs 5,000 but had “no proper counselling, nothing structured… just random tasks”.

Beyond simple greed, small-scale money laundering plays a critical role in the growth of these unlicensed or ‘fly-by-night’ centres. “Many of these facilities also provide an ideal front for legitimising illicit cash, like proceeds from local drug trafficking, by mixing it with legitimate revenue from family-funded treatment fees. In some cases, operators have been found to use the centres to procure large quantities of controlled prescription drugs, which are then diverted back into the black market for a significant markup,” said an investigator.

At the same time, the gap between substance use and access to treatment remains stark. A 2018 national survey by AIIMS found that only one in 38 people with alcohol dependence receives care, and just one in 180 gets inpatient treatment. Among illicit drug users, only one in 20 has ever accessed inpatient care.

Experts say weak oversight is a key concern. “There are hundreds of centres, many of them private and taking in patients. But action is usually taken only when a complaint is filed. Otherwise, enforcement is minimal,” said Rajesh Kumar of SPYM. Governance is also fragmented, with multiple agencies involved but no single nodal authority responsible for regulation and enforcement.

In such a scenario, the inmates become the casualties. It’s a double whammy for the families who first battle with their young child’s drug addiction and then either lose them to mismanagement at the centres or bring them back unchanged, or in a worse condition where they are addicted to new drugs.

Access to credible treatment remains another challenge, especially for the homeless and vulnerable. Many private centres charge fees that exclude large sections while awareness about free services remains limited. Experts point out that facilities for women, particularly those who are homeless, are even fewer.

With eradication of drugs still a far-fetched dream, experts call for strict enforcement of rules at such centres and a ban on unregistered ones which, they say, substantially aggravates the problem. They also urge a stronger govt role in regulation and service provision to ensure minimum standards of care.Get real-time updates and result insights on the CBSE 12 Result 2026.