CONCEPT – BEGGING ACT STRUCK DOWN BY DELHI H.C.

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 CONCEPT – BEGGING ACT STRUCK DOWN BY DELHI H.C.

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• The misery of the Denotified Tribes : The racist British passed the draconian Criminal Tribes Act in 1871, criminalising entire tribes in one shot (by birth, nature, occupation). Horrible consequences followed – forced labour, detention camps etc. Independent India repealed it, but the “Denotified Tribes” suffer stigma till date.
• Fearful of nomadic and itinerant communities : The colonisers were wary of these, as they kept moving, making it tough to track, control and tax them. So laws were made to force communities to settle down, into bonded labour!
• Colonial legacy continued post 1947 : Some of the old tyranny continued. Citizens were seen as subjects to be controlled, rather than humans with rights. Example? The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959.
• Delhi H.C. strikes it down : In August 2018, the Delhi High Court found it unconstitutional. Since the Act criminalises begging, the police can arrest without warrant. A judge can put beggars for 3 years (first offence) and upto 10 years (later offences) into detention centres (called “certified institutions”). 
• Dehumanisation : Fingerprinting takes away their privacy. Their dependants (family) can also be detained. Certified Institutions can extract work from inhabitants, and also punish, and throw them into jail finally.
• A prejudiced law with dangerous definitions : The words used to define begging give the police vast powers to harass citizens and references to “singing, dancing, fortune telling, performing or offering any article for sale” show how certain communities are being targetted. These are itinerarnt ones, not fitting into mainstream society patterns.
• Erase people : The lawmakers wishes to erase people from the public space who do not fit into the pattern. A recent example – HDFC Bank branch at Fort, Mumbai, that put up metal spikes to deter rough sleeping. 
• Criminalise poverty, and make it invisible : This is what the Act did. For the poor who are thus cordoned off from the public spaces that “respectable citizens” can use, the constitutional promise of pluralism and inclusiveness don’t exist. (Articles 14 and 21 are violated)
• When was it used? In the Commonwealth Games 2010, and each year before the Independence and Republic days.
• Cases : The Delhi High Court, in the Harsh Mander v. Union of India and Karnika Sawhney v. Union of India, the govt. accepted it didn’t want to criminalise involuntary begging. 
• What is poverty? It shows the State’s inability to offer the basics of survival – food, clothing, shelter – and the State cannot criminalise the public display of this failure.
• Liberty is supreme : This judgement is a step towards decolonising our life, just like the S.377 judgement by Delhi HC was, in the Naz Foundation v. NCT of Delhi, 2009 (final judgement 2018, by the SC).
• Reforming society : Courts cannot do it. Only the legislatures can do it.

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