Social Security and Criminal Laws

What is the issue?

• The Delhi High Court has recently struck down some provisions of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act. Click here to know more
• It is imperative, in this context, to understand the colonial perceptions behind the coming in of such laws.

What was the colonial era approach?

• In 1871, the colonial regime passed the Criminal Tribes Act.
• This was based upon the racist British belief that many groups and communities are being criminal by birth, nature, and occupation.
• The Act unleashed a reign of terror, with systems of surveillance, police reporting, separation of families, detention camps, and forced labour.
• More than six decades after independence, India repealed the Act.
• But sadly, the “denotified tribes” continue to suffer from stigma and systemic disadvantage.

What is the rationale behind?

• Criminal Tribes Act is one among a range of colonial laws that dehumanised communities.
• The colonial administrators were particularly concerned about nomadic communities.
• It's because, by virtue of their movements and lifestyle, it was difficult to track, surveil, control, and tax them.
• So the Criminal Tribes Act and other such laws attempted to destroy these patterns of life.
• They were used to coerce these communities into settlements and subject them to forced labour.

What happened after independence?

• Constitution did promise liberty, equality, fraternity, and dignity to all.
• However, independent India’s rulers continued to replicate colonial logic in framing laws for the new republic.
• Individuals were continued to be treated as subjects to be controlled, rather than rights-bearing citizens.
• The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act comes as an extension of this approach.

What are the larger concerns with the Act?

• The Act has continued to exist in as many as 20 States and two Union Territories.
• The definition refers to "singing, dancing, fortune telling, performing or offering any article for sale" for receiving alms.
• The vague definitions give unchecked power to the police to harass citizens.
• The Begging Act was used just before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
• The Delhi government took measures to take beggars off the street as their presence would embarrass the nation before foreigners.
• Such operations are also a regular part of preparing for national events, such as Independence Day and Republic Day.
• It seems to be targeting groups and communities whose nomadic patterns of life do not fit within mainstream stereotypes.
• It reflects the desire to erase public spaces of people who look or act differently.
• It conveys that the constitutional guarantees of pluralism and inclusiveness are not available to these people.

What is the significance of HC ruling?

• The Delhi High Court’s judgment marks a crucial step forward in dismantling a vicious legacy of colonialism.
• It comes as a recognition of the fact that our Constitution is a transformative one.
• It seeks to undo legacies of injustice and lift up all individuals and communities to the plane of equal citizenship.

What is the way forward?

• A court can strike down an unconstitutional law, but it cannot reform society.
• Poverty is a systemic and structural problem of the society.
• So it is the task of the legislatures and the government to replace contentious laws as the Begging Act.
• Measures focusing on rehabilitation and integration of the most vulnerable and marginalised members should be the way forward.  

Source: The Hindu