Two homeless persons died days after HC pulled up shelter board

A 50-year-old man was found dead outside the Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place on Monday morning,while another was found in the Yamuna Pushta area last week. The body has been shifted to the RML Hospital for identification and post-mortem. Police registered an FIR and had begun investigating his death.

A night shelter behind the temple had been removed in 2011 after protests by residents,who said the homeless were a law and order threat.

NGO Shehri Adhikar Manch,which has been working for the homeless,said it would inform the court of the two incidents on Tuesday. The NGO had earlier informed the court that night shelters were not running at full capacity because the caretakers,guards and police were harassing the homeless.

In an order issued in October,the High Court,which has been monitoring the issue of night shelters in the city since 2010,had pulled up DUSIB and Department of Social Welfare for “neglecting citizens”. It had also directed the CEO of DUSIB to personally inspect the shelters.

In response,the Delhi government had filed an affidavit stating that it was “committed to ensuring that not a single person would be forced to spend the night out in the open in the coming winter”.