INTRODUCTION
Every day, we walk past people on the streets who are begging, holding out their hands, asking for a few coins, sometimes just for food. Most of us look away, feeling helpless or uncomfortable. But have we ever truly thought about what forces someone to beg? It is not laziness or choice; it is for their survival. Many of these individuals have been pushed to the margins by poverty, hunger, unemployment, or disability. Often, they have no home to go back to and no government support to rely on. In such a situation, asking for help becomes their only way to stay alive.
Yet, instead of showing compassion, our legal system treats begging as a crime. People are arrested, detained, and labelled as offenders simply for trying to survive. These anti-begging laws don’t help reduce poverty; they push poor people further into suffering. They punish individuals not for what they’ve done, but for what they lack. This raises a serious question: when begging is driven by desperation, is treating it as a criminal act fair or humane?
COLONIAL ROOTS
Begging was first addressed during British rule through laws such as the European Vagrancy Act of 1874, which treated people without visible means of income as vagrants. Although there was no single law banning begging across India, the old Criminal Procedure Code had provisions that allowed action against people who could not explain how they earned a living or who caused public nuisance.[1]
In urban areas, Municipal Acts[2] Punished forms of begging that were seen as aggressive or disturbing, such as repeatedly asking for money or exposing wounds. The Indian Railways Act[3] In 1941 prohibited begging on trains and at stations was prohibited. The Bengal Vagrancy Act[4] Of 1943 was a more direct attempt to criminalise begging, influenced by the United Kingdom’s approach to poverty and public space control.
PERSISTENCE POST INDEPENDENCE
After 1947, the responsibility for dealing with begging fell to the states. Many of them passed their anti-beggary laws, the most well-known being the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act of 1959, which was later extended to Delhi and other areas. This law allows police to arrest people suspected of begging and bring them before a magistrate. If found guilty, the person can be sent to a special institution for a period ranging from one to three years. Repeat offenders can face even longer detention.[5]
Critics say the law’s definition of begging is too broad. It includes not just asking for alms but also activities like singing, dancing, selling small goods, or simply wandering without income. This often leads to the arrest of poor workers, such as street vendors or performers, who are not begging but trying to survive.[6]
The punishments were harsh and mandatory, with no flexibility for the judge to reduce the sentence. Conditions in the detention centres, such as Seva Kutir in Delhi, are often reported to be overcrowded, unhygienic, and lacking proper care or training facilities. Instead of helping people recover, these places tend to push them back into the same cycle of poverty and arrest.[7]
In effect, while colonial laws focused on controlling public spaces, post-independence laws go further by criminalising poverty, without offering real solutions to its causes. These Laws, rather than eradicating poverty, just hid the poor.
CRIMINALIZATION OF BEGGARY: GRAVE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Begging is often not a choice, but it is something people do out of pure necessity. When someone has no food, no job, and no help from the government, begging becomes their only way to survive. It is not a crime of greed; it is an act of survival. And is surviving a crime in a democratic, diverse nation like India, but due to such Anti-Beggary laws, it seems like that.[8]
Making begging a crime is a grave violation of basic human rights, like:
- Right to Life and Dignity: For many, begging is the only way to stay alive. If we criminalise it, we take away their last hope. This is coercing people to choose between breaking the law and starving.[9] Everyone has the right to live with dignity, and punishing someone for being poor shows a lack of compassion. It also shifts the blame from a failing system to the people who suffer because of it.[10]
- Freedom of Speech and Expression: When a person begs by speaking, holding a sign, or reaching out a hand, they are asking for help. That’s a form of expression. Banning begging is the same as banning a poor person’s voice, especially when others, like charities, are allowed to ask for donations. This double standard is unfair and silences the most vulnerable, who are the ones who need to be protected and heard.[11]
- Right to Equality: Anti-begging laws often draw strange lines, for example, between someone begging for themselves and someone begging for a cause. These differences don’t make sense and often treat poor individuals as less worthy. Everyone deserves equal protection under the law, no matter their financial status.[12]
Many anti-begging laws are written in confusing ways. They don’t clearly explain what counts as begging, which gives too much power to the police and allows for abuse. These unclear rules can stop people from even peacefully asking for help, and they often punish people without proving any intent to do wrong.[13]
Courts like the Delhi High Court (Harsh Mander v. Union of India[14]) and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court (Suhail Rashid Bhat v. State of Jammu and Kashmir and others[15]) have struck down these laws. They’ve said poverty is not a crime, and that punishing the poor like this goes against their rights to life, liberty, and dignity.
Begging is not the problem; poverty is. And criminalising the poor only hides the issue instead of solving it. Shouldn’t we focus on helping people out of poverty instead of punishing them for it?
CONCLUSION
Begging is not a sign of failure; it is a sign that the system has failed someone. The poor do not end up on the streets because they want to; they end up there because they are left with no choice. Criminalising begging does not help them; it only adds to their trauma. These laws don’t offer solutions; they just remove the problem from public view, making it easier for society to ignore. But the problem doesn’t disappear. It only grows, silently but painfully.
If we want to live in a truly just and caring society, we need to stop treating the poor as criminals. We must recognise that begging is often the result of hunger, unemployment, mental illness, or displacement. People need support, not punishment. Our laws should protect the vulnerable, not target them. Instead of building detention centres for beggars, we should build shelters, food programs, and job opportunities. As students, as future leaders, and as human beings, we must demand a shift from judgment to empathy, from punishment to protection. Because surviving in poverty is not a crime, and we must stop treating it like one.
Author(s) Name: Vedant Pimprikar (Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur)
References:
[1] S.K. Bhattacharyya, ‘Beggars and The Law’ (1977) 19 JILI 498, 499
[2] Ibid 500
[3] Ibid
[4] S.K. Bhattacharyya, ‘Beggars and The Law’ (1977) 19 JILI 498, 499
[5] Ibid 500
[6] Aminya Rao, ‘Poverty and Power: The Anti-Begging Act’ (1981) 16 EPW 269, 269.
[7] Ibid
[8] Haya Ashraf, ‘Begging a Crime or a Necessity: Whether to Criminalise or Decriminalise the Beggary Law in India’ (2022) 4 Indian JL & Legal Rsch 1
[9] Ishita, ‘Begging as Human Right vis-a-vis International Perspective’ (2023) Int’l JL Mgmt & Human 1084
[10] Suhail Rashid Bhat v. State of Jammu and Kashmir and others (2019) SCC OnLine J&K 869
[11] Ishita, ‘Begging as Human Right vis-a-vis International Perspective’ (2023) Int’l JL Mgmt & Human 1084
[12] Ibid
[13] Suhail Rashid Bhat v. State of Jammu and Kashmir and others (2019) SCC OnLine J&K 869
[14] Harsh Mander v. Union of India AIR 2018 Delhi 188
[15] Suhail Rashid Bhat v. State of Jammu and Kashmir and others (2019) SCC OnLine J&K 869
