DMK MP in Lok Sabha Matheswaran VS. Asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah a question in the House regarding what measures are being taken to stop begging in Delhi. MP Matheswaran VS asked if there were details of the preventive steps taken by police agencies to stop begging in Delhi, especially around traffic signals? And has Delhi Police received any complaint of forced begging from transgenders? If yes, what are the details thereof and the cases registered since 2019? And how many people have been arrested for begging under the Delhi Prevention of Begging Rules, 1960 since 2014?
Union Home Ministry responded to Parliament
On the question asked by DMK MP in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed that Delhi Police has informed that the following preventive steps are taken to prevent begging in Delhi, especially at traffic signals and intersections.
- Special drives are conducted at regular intervals to remove beggars from traffic signals and intersections.
- Police personnel are deployed at sensitive red lights during peak hours to prevent begging activities.
- Delhi Police, in coordination with the Social Welfare Department of NCT of Delhi, shifts beggars and homeless people to shelter homes.
- Disorder caused by beggars is identified and prevented through CCTV surveillance at major intersections.
Apart from this, the minister said that since 2019 till now, Delhi Police has received a total of three complaints of forced begging from transgenders. Of these, two complaints were found not to be actionable, while one complaint was converted into an FIR, in which a charge sheet has been filed in the court.
Declaring begging a crime is a violation of fundamental rights – Delhi HC
The minister said that from 2014 till now, no person has been arrested for begging under the Delhi Prevention of Begging Rules, 1960. It is also reported that the Delhi High Court has decriminalized begging in Delhi in August 2018 in the cases ‘Harsh Mander and others vs. Union of India and others’ and ‘Karnika Sawhney vs. Union of India and others’. The court also said that declaring begging a crime is a violation of fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
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