Bhopal’s New Order Criminalising Begging

On Monday, the Bhopal district collector issued orders prohibiting begging in the district, and introduced stringent measures including registration of FIRs for receiving and giving alms. After Indore, now Bhopal too has prohibited begging across all public places, including giving alms. On Monday (February 3), the Bhopal district collector issued orders prohibiting begging in the district, a month after the Indore collector passed similar orders, and introduced stringent measures including registration of FIRs for receiving and giving alms. The criminalisation of begging has been a contentious issue in many parts of the country, with some states having stringent laws, often criticised for being ‘anti-poor’ and mandated in place of rehabilitation-centric interventions.

Under what law have the Indore and Bhopal collectors issued orders to prohibit begging?

• The orders by the collectors of the two districts in Madhya Pradesh are under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. This law gives officials including the district magistrate, sub-divisional magistrate, or any other executive magistrate, the power to issue an order in urgent cases of ‘nuisance or apprehended danger’. The order can direct any person from abstaining from a certain act. It may apply to persons residing in a particular place or area, or the public generally frequenting or visiting a particular place or area.
• The orders state that action will be taken under section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). This section punishes those disobeying an order announced by a public servant, who is lawfully empowered to do so. If an order under the section is not obeyed, the person can be punished with simple imprisonment for a term up to six months, a fine up to Rs 2500, or both. If the disobedience of the order causes or tends to cause danger to human life, health or safety, imprisonment can be extended to one year and the fine to Rs 5000.
• Section 163 BNSS, however, also says that an order under the section shall remain in force for not more than two months, provided the state government considers it necessary that the order remain in force for a period not exceeding six months. Orders under the section—erstwhile section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code—are extended periodically if required by issuing fresh orders.

Is begging termed illegal anywhere else?

• The first law against begging was the Bombay Prevention of Beggary Act, 1959. Its roots were colonial, when there were laws against ‘vagrants’, in various provinces, including the Bengal Vagrancy Act, 1943 and the Cochin Vagrancy Act, 1945. In 1959, in then Bombay, an Act was formulated to keep the streets clear of destitute persons, leprosy patients or those with mental illnesses so that they could be sent into institutions.
• Section 10 of the Act, for instance, gives a chief commissioner powers to order the detention of ‘incurably helpless beggars’. Under this provision, any person detained in a certified institution is considered ‘to be blind, a cripple, or otherwise incurably helpless’, and can be ordered to be detained ‘indefinitely’.