Context
SC asks Centre, four states to respond on plea seeking repeal of provisions criminalising begging. Referring to the Census 2011, the plea has said that the total number of beggars in India is 4,13,670 and the number has increased from the last census.
Why in news?
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre and four states, including Maharashtra and Gujarat, to file their response within three weeks on a plea seeking a direction to repeal the provisions criminalising begging.
A bench of justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy noted in its order that though a notice was issued on the plea only Bihar has so far filed its response in the matter.
Detailed Analysis
- The provisions of the statutes criminalising the act of begging put people in a situation to make an unreasonable choice between committing a crime or not committing one and starving, which goes against the very spirit of the Constitution and violates Article 21 i.e. Right to Life.
- Referring to the Census 2011, the plea has said that the total number of beggars in India is 4,13,670 and the number has increased from the last census.
- It said that the government has the mandate to provide social security to everyone and ensure that all have basic facilities, as embedded in the Directives Principles of State Policy in the Constitution.
Plea Claims
- However, the presence of beggars is evidence that the State has failed to provide these basic facilities to all its citizens, thus instead of working on its failure and examining what made people beg, criminalising the act of beggary is irrational and against the approach of a socialist nation as embedded in the preamble of our Constitution.
- It said that a person, who is compelled to beg due to certain circumstances, cannot be faulted for his actions.
- The plea has claimed that ‘The Abolition of Begging and Rehabilitation of Beggars Bill 2018’ was introduced in Lok Sabha but “till date, this bill is not passed and is wedged in length parliamentary procedures, that has resulted in thousands of poor facing more hardships because of present arbitrary statutes.
- The petition has sought directions to declare as “illegal and void” all provisions, except some sections, of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, Punjab Prevention of Beggary Act, 1971, Haryana Prevention of Begging Act, 1971 and Bihar Prevention of Begging Act 1951.
- It has also sought to declare all other similar Acts prevailing in any part of the country as illegal.