‘Beggary law continues primarily because of the collective apathy of the society’

As per Supreme Court guidelines, how many shelter homes are required and how many are there in Mumbai currently?

Answer 2: The SC direction says that for every one lakh population of the city, there has to be one shelter with a capacity for 100 persons. The scheme for urban homeless people demands dedicated shelters for different categories of people. However, Mumbai is yet to make any serious effort towards fulfilling the court directions. Only a handful of shelters have been set up. There is not even a single recovery shelter in the city that requires at least 250-300 shelters.

Roughly how many are accommodated in these shelter homes and what is the condition of these homes?

Answer 3: Majority of the shelters cater to street children. These shelters are run by the child care support programmes of NGOs for many years. Now many of them have been reclassified as shelter for the homeless. Also, some of them are being run in a custodial manner, defeating the entire purpose and relevance of shelters.

Many homeless people are arrested under the draconian Beggary Act? How does it affect their livelihoods?

Answer 4: Beggary is a social phenomenon of grave concern but overlooked or addressed at a token level. Over 20 states in the country have laws that criminalise and punish people for being a destitute. Maharashtra is where law is implemented most aggressively. Every day arrests are made. Records and field experience show that most of those arrested are poor migrant labourers or those who have been abandoned like elderly or those with mental health issues. More than 90% people are released by the trial court because they are not found to be involved in begging. However, the arrest itself is enough to derail the lives of poor homeless and push them towards further deprivation. There is labelling that happens and impacts their life adversely. People lose their jobs once they get arrested as nobody wants to employ a person who could have broken a law. There is also a social stigma that gets attached apart from financial burden as cost of legal process. Worst is the psychological trauma that these arrests cause, especially in the minds of youth who get arrested for nothing but looking poor. The arrest not only affects the livelihoods, but the entire life.

What immediate steps need to be taken by Maharashtra government in this regard and why?

Answer 5. Repealing the Beggary Act is the foremost requirement. A decision was taken to this effect earlier and a committee headed by Principal Secretary, DWCD, was constituted by the government to draft the alternative legislation. The committee submitted its report few years ago but not much has moved since then. However, recent developments bring some hope. Delhi High Court and J&K High Court decriminalised beggary in the past couple of years. There is also a very progressive scheme launched by the Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment that provides for community-based rehabilitation. Mumbai and Nagpur were selected by the ministry for the pilot phase as well, before the scheme was launched fully this year in February.

Are there beggary syndicates in Mumbai? If so, with beggary law getting repealed, will they not get a free hand and grow?

Answer 6: More important question than whether there is a syndicate or not, is the question what mechanism we have to curb it if it exists. From my experience in the field for two decades, I can surely say organised crimes exists and people are forced to beg, especially elderly and children. However, the beggary law is not at all an answer as it is hardly a deterrent. The IPC section that is required to be used is rarely used. How many cases have been filed against such gangs or syndicates? Section 363 A of IPC provides rigorous imprisonment for 10 years as non-bailable offence. But the beggary law provides for 3 years sentence to the trafficker and 10 years for the victims. That’s why repeal is urgently needed.

How can citizens, who wish to help, change the scenario of homeless people?

Answer 7: We can begin with acknowledging their presence and accepting them as equal citizens. The beggary law continues primarily because of the collective apathy of the society. Our indifference towards the homeless results in inaction of the government.