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SINDH ANTI-BEGGARY ACT, 2021

 A

BILL

 

WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for care, rehabilitation and reintegration of beggars in the province of the Sindh to  eliminate beggary in the society and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereof.

It is hereby enacted by the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as follows

PRELIMINARY

  1. Short title, and commencement: (1) This Act may be called the Sindh Anti-Beggary Act 2021 
  • It extends to the whole of the Province of Sindh
  • It shall come into force at once

 2. Definitions: (1) In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context:

a.  “Government” means the Government of Sindh

b. “Prescribed” means prescribed by rules;

c. “Public Place” includes any road, public park, garden, railway station, markets, bus stands, adda, airports, ground or public transport;

d. “Rules” means the rules made under this Act;

e. “Special Magistrate” means a Magistrate especially empowered by Government to act under the provision of this Act;

f. “Beggary” means:

  1. Soliciting or receiving alms, in a public place whether or not under any presence such as singing, dancing, fortune telling, performing or offering any article for sale;
  2. entering or knocking on any private premises for the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms;
  3. exposing or exhibiting, with the object of obtaining or extorting alms, any sore, wound injury, deformity of diseases whether of a human being or animal;
  4. having no visible means of subsistence and wandering, about or remaining in any public place in such condition or manner, as makes it likely that the person doing so exist soliciting or receiving alms;
  5. allowing oneself to be used as an exhibit for the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms;

 

 

g.   Organized Crime – practice of begging with the criminal intent to defraud the donor, carried out in an organized fashion, and handled as a business. The organizers have criminal intent to maximize profit for themselves by forcing people, often of disadvantaged social groups, to beg.  These disadvantaged groups include but are not limited to those who are mentally and physically handicapped, women, third gender, children, and the elderly, voluntarily and involuntarily

h. “Rehabilitation Home” means an institution under Section 4 of this Act;

i. “Child Protection Centre” means a Shelter for short and long term stay and protection of children as explained at Section 6 of this Act;

j. “Child” means any person under the age of eighteen years

k. “Children Act” means Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011

l. “Court” means any court exercising criminal jurisdiction in the area in which this Act is in force;

m. “DNA Test” means a laboratory test for identifying biological relationship between two persons

 

 

  1. Ban on beggary: (1) that the police is bound to remove and take into custody every individual found begging regardless of age, gender or disability; (2) that such individuals be taken to the police station (for a few hours) for gathering information about handlers, fact finding, records and biometrics;

(3) After completion of fact finding and data recording, children below 18 are taken to the child Protection Shelter   and adults to the Adult Rehabilitation Homes where they are placed initially for a period of three months.

(4) The police shall immediately also proceed against any person , handler, mafia or guardian  who caused any child or adult  to beg or to accept alms or abets to beg or accept alms.  The  Police  shall arrest such individuals / handlers / parents  and shall produce them before the court for legal proceeding.

(5) After three months, children may  be returned to parents / guardians and adults released – with written assurances for not returning to streets or begging or indulging in any crime.  (6) Sindh Child Protection Authority will seek  Magistrate’s permission if the stay of the child is to be extended beyond 3 months. (7) The Sindh Social Welfare Department will seek Magistrate’s permission if the stay of the adult  is to be extended beyond 3 months.

(8) In case of child if there is any doubt, court may order for DNA test of parents and child.   If the parenthood the child is not confirmed, the child will continue to be with Child Protection Authority in Child Shelter, till  child’s parents / guardians are found.

 

  1. Rehabilitation — Government shall designate and maintain one or more Rehabilitation Homes for adults,  for the care, detention, treatment, training, counselling, guidance, skill imparting,  medical treatment  (if any), normalization and reformation of beggars and  destitute , other than those who are lepers, lunatic or suffering from contagious diseases. Any individual staying in Rehabilitation Home for more than 3 months must have magistrate’s permission, which ought to be renewed every 3 months.

 

  1. Functions of the Rehabilitation Homes.— The Rehabilitation Home shall-

 

(a) Provide Shelter to the beggars / destitute; and

(b) Provide health care, counselling, education and skill development facilities to the beggars / destitute.

(c) arrange such instructions of the beggars as may rehabilitate them in useful trades and make them self-supporting.

(d) Data collection and updated records must  be maintained at the Rehabilitation Homes. Accurate record and status of each individual, with full details of date of arrival, departure, services provided, and Magistrate’s approval must be maintained.

(e) Perform any other functions as assigned to it by Government.

 

  1. Child Protection Centre .— Government shall designate and maintain one or more Child Protection Centres at such place or places as it may think fit for the care, detention, treatment, training, counselling, guidance, skill imparting,  medical treatment  (if any), normalization and reformation of beggar / destitute / needing protection  / lost  children,  other than those who are lepers, lunatic or suffering from contagious diseases. Any child  staying in Child Protection Centre  for more than 3 months must have magistrate’s permission, which ought to be renewed every 3 months. Mothers of children less than 5 years old may be allowed to stay with the child.

 

  1. Functions of the Child Protection Centres .— The Child Protection Centre shall-

(a) Provide Shelter to the children (under 18) picked up from streets, found begging, lost, destitute or in need of protection,  and

(b) Provide health care, counselling, education and skill development and reformation services to the children.

(c) arrange such instructions so that children may be rehabilitated back with their families, schools and communities  and return to normal routine of life.

(d) Data collection and updated records must  be maintained at the Child Protection Centre. Accurate record and status of each child, with full details of date of arrival, departure, services provided, and Magistrate’s approval must be maintained.

(e) Perform any other functions as assigned to it by Government.

 

  1. Voluntary Admission to Rehabilitation Home.— Any Beggar / destitute may present himself before the special Magistrate for being admitted to Rehabilitation Home and if the special magistrate is satisfied that such beggar / destitute has no source of livelihood. He may be detained in a Rehabilitation Home till such time as such beggar becomes possessed of means of livelihood or applies for his release from custody.

 

  1. Voluntary Admission to Child Protection Centre.— Any child Beggar / destitute / lost / in need of protection may present himself before the special Magistrate for being admitted to Child Protection Centre and if the special magistrate is satisfied that such a child does need protection, he / she may be kept in a Child Protection Centre till such time as such the child needs protection and can be safely handed over to parents / guardians.

 

  1. Powers of Police Officers to arrest and search beggars and to seize things liable to confiscation:—(1) Any police officer may without a warrant of arrest or search as the case may be arrest any person (adult or child) and search any person who appears to him to a be a beggar / destitute / lost or needing protection and seize anything found with such person which he has reason to believe to be used for soliciting alms, liable to confiscation under this Act.   (2) A person (adult or child) arrested under the last preceding sub-section shall be sent to the Rehabilitation Center / Child Protection Centre for an initial period of 3 months as  described in para 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7,    For periods beyond three months, an  individual adult or child must be produced before a Magistrate and stay continued only with the permission of Magistrate.   (3) In case  a person is suspected of being involved in  supporting, patronizing, helping or organizing  begging, or is involved in any crime associated with begging,  or part of an organized crime relating to begging, the police shall arrest such person  without warrant and the person so arrested shall be produced before the court within a period of Twenty-four hours after such arrest for legal proceeding.

 

  1. (1) When he person arrested under the last preceding section appears or is brought before the special magistrate. He shall be tried in accordance with the procedure prescribed for the trial of summons cases under chapter XX of the code of the criminal procedure, 1898  ( Please add relevant clauses to support trial)

 

  1. Sentence for Beggary.— (1) When an adult / child is found begging, he/she  shall be detained in a Rehabilitation Home /  Child Protection Centre as defined in Section 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7  above for an initial  period of 3 months. Where required, duration may be extended with the approval of Magistrate for 3 months at a time.

 

The detention of adult / children is reviewed every 3 months by Child Protection Authority / Social Welfare Department. Stay may be extended by three months at a time if so permitted by the Magistrate.

 

(2) Children may be released and returned to parents / guardians with written assurances to  the satisfaction of the court for not returning to begging or to streets.

 

  1. Child Protection Authority: On receiving a complaint of children found begging / destitute, the Child Protection Authority will immediately inform the concerned police station, who will be bound to  immediately proceed to take actions as described above.

 

  1. Punishment for employing or causing persons to ask for alms.—(1)Whoever employs or causes any person (adult or child) to solicit or receive alms or uses a person as an exhibit for the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years but which shall not be less than three year and or fine upto rupees five hundred thousand and not less that rupees three hundred thousand or with both.

 

(2)whoever having the custody, charge or care of a child, connives at or encourages the employment or the causing a child to solicit or receive alms shall be punished with presentment for a term which may extend to three years but which shall not be less than one year.

 

  1. If a person is presented before a special magistrate, and he has no ostensible source of subsistence and wanders about or remains in a public place in such condition or manner as raises a reasonable suspicion that he is there to solicit or receive alms, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved that such person is a beggar and shall be sent to Rehabilitation Home / Child Protection Centre, as applicable.

 

  1. Detention of incurably helpless beggars.- When any person who is detained in a welfare home is disable, whether on an application by him/her to the or otherwise by other person to be with any disability under schedule Sindh Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act 2018 or otherwise incurably helpless, the court may order that he/she shall after the expiry of the period of 3 months, be further detained indefinitely in a Rehabilitation Home or Child Protection Center.

 

Provided that, after the expiry of 3 months, the court may release any such person to any person whom the court considers suitable, executes a bond with or without sureties as court may require, making him/herself responsible for the housing and maintenance of such inmate and for preventing him/her from begging or being used for the purpose of begging.

 

  1. Powers of discharge of beggars from welfare homes.—The Special Magistrate may discharge a beggar from a welfare home, after  a minimum period of 3 months, —

 

  1. if he is satisfied that a beggar has become possessed of an income sufficient to enable him to support himself without resorting to beggary;
  2. if a relative of such beggar, or a person interested in the welfare of the beggar, enters into a bond with or without sureties to look after and maintain such beggar and to prevent him from resorting to beggar y;
  3. on the certificate of the manager of the welfare home that satisfactory employment has been obtained for such beggar;
  4. for any other good and sufficient reason to be recorded in writing.
  5. Cognizance and bail.— All offences under this Act shall be cognizable and bailable except those listed under clause 10 sub clause (3) and clause 11.

 

  1. No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person for anything in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

 

  1. Power to make rules.— Government may by notification in the official gazette make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

 

 

 

Object and Reasons

 

Begging is not just related to poverty but also to how a state manages its funds and cares for its people. That we take no measures to limit our burgeoning population or to ensure old-age benefits or social security for all citizens, further adds to the phenomenon.

Pakistan has an anti-vagrancy act since 1958, that prohibits soliciting for alms in a public place or exhibiting any wounds or deformity for the purpose of soliciting alms. This law largely remained ineffective because of the disinterest of state machinery and the absence of supporting shelters and processes. Thus, rather than rushing into new laws, we need to review this subject and consider humane ways to rehabilitate the beggars and apprehend their handlers.

Any anti-beggary drive must begin only once the following mechanisms have been put in place: (a) that the police is bound to remove every individual found begging regardless of age, gender or disability; (b) that such individuals be taken to the police station (for a few hours) for gathering information about handlers, fact finding, records and biometrics; (c) children below 18 are taken to the child protection centres  and adults to the adult rehabilitation centres where they are placed initially for a period of three months; (d) police simultaneously begins apprehending handlers and initiates criminal proceedings against them; (e) after three months, children may be returned to parents and adults released, with written assurances for not returning to streets.

A beggary elimination programme cannot be effective without trained staff and sufficient rehabilitation centers for adults and children. The state must provide food, shelter, clothes, healthcare, education, counselling and skill development in these welfare homes/centers. The welfare homes must aim to reform its residents, while the police must focus on eliminating ‘behind-the-scene’ gangs, peddlers and handlers. Data collection and records to be maintained at the welfare Centers & shelters to track the habitual ones and deal with them under the criminal laws.

The three-month initial stay may be extended if the person would be unsafe outside the shelter or may resume begging after release. Needless to say that the Social Welfare Department must remain an active partner throughout this programme.

Begging is a result of neglect — both by the state and society. It will continue as long as only less than three million people file their tax returns, only 10% workers are registered with the EOBI and only 5% are included in the Social Security programmes. This will also continue to happen if we define the monthly minimum wage at a measly level of Rs17,500 and refuse to pay even that to most workers. The state and the citizens can join hands in remedying these faults and developing effective and humane processes to manage beggary.

Bill proposed by Rabia A Nizami and Naeem Sadiq.

June 2021