Anti-beggary laws in India: a socio-political critique

The aim of this research is to critically examine the anti-beggary laws in India and present a socio-political critique of these laws. Anti-beggary laws in India are a replica of colonial vagrancy laws that discriminate among people on the basis of their socio-economic status. Due to these laws, innocent people are being criminalised and it adds salt to their wounds. Before 2018 when the court scrapped some of the sections of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act of 1959, hundreds and thousands of beggars were detained in jails in the name of rehabilitation without providing them any legal aid to present their case. The laws penalise homelessness as well. People from the informal labour sector were being picked by the police from footpaths under these laws. These horrifying incidents form part of the problem. The paper aims to study the current scenario of anti-beggary laws along with various judgements given by Indian courts decriminalising these laws.