Bharati Law Review

Volume VII, Issue 4 (April-June, 2019) PP 44-55

ISSN 2278-6996; e-ISSN 2457-0567
bharatilawreview.com

Child Beggary in India: An Analysis of the Legal

Framework with special reference to Karnataka

Shruthi Prabhakar
(Asst. Prof., Christ Academy Institute of Law, Affiliated to Karnataka State Law University,
Bengaluru)

Abstract: When it comes to begging a state of complete apathy exists in

India. Being a welfare State, India has done little to improve the condition of
beggars. Whether forced by their own families, or as part of begging rackets,
the children are at the receiving end of this apathy with no access to proper
nourishment, health-care, education or even nurturing love. There is no
legislation which comprehensively deals with begging amongst children. One
needs to look at a combination of laws while addressing the issue of child
beggary. About 22 states have enacted legislations prohibiting and punishing
beggary but these laws merely criminalize begging without attacking the root
of the problem and fail to effectively deal with the rehabilitation of children
found begging. Recent past has seen a few PILs filed seeking basic
fundamental rights for beggars and to decriminalize begging. In a country
where poverty and unemployment cripple a large percentage of its population,
it becomes necessary to have laws which can break the vicious circle of
poverty, unemployment and beggary. This paper tries to understand the laws in
India, with special reference to Karnataka, which deal with child beggary,
their implementation and the moral dilemmas of criminalizing begging against
the backdrop of poverty and unemployment.
Keywords: Child Beggary, Poverty, Unemployment, Rehabilitation

I. INTRODUCTION who do not have access to three-

India is a country with a
Population of over 121 crores[1].
Out of this, 2011-12 reports
indicate that approximately 21.9%
of the population lives below
poverty line.[2] Even though the
Government claims that the
population living below poverty
line has decreased, in a country
with such a huge population 21.9%
amounts to almost Lakhs of people
square meals a day and basic
conditions of life. It is a well-
known fact that over-population
leads to social evils like poverty,
illiteracy, unemployment, etc. It
quite often becomes difficult even
for a well-educated man to obtain
employment in such a situation, let
alone a person leading an
impoverished life. When obtaining
even the most basic necessities of

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 Child Beggary in India: An Analysis of the Legal Framework .....
life- food, water, shelter, clothes-
becomes a distant dream, man is
forced to turn to the mercy of other
human beings. He starts begging,
either by his own will or forced by
miscreants who take advantage of
his helplessness. Children, who are
looked upon as a source of
additional income in these poor
families, become easy targets and
are pushed into begging.
The Oxford dictionary defines
beggary as a “…state of extreme
poverty”. According to Black’s
law dictionary, Beggar is someone
“…who lives by begging charity,
or who has no other means of
support than solicited alms”. The
2011 census indicates that there
are about 4,13,670 beggars in India
with 12,270 being in Karnataka.[3]
Unconfirmed reports state that as
many as over 3 lakh children are
forced to beg across India by
cartels.[4] It will not be surprising
if the actual numbers are even
bigger than 3 lakhs. Anyone on a
short drive across any city in India
would easily encounter a minimum
of 3-4 children begging at traffic
signals, selling merchandise,
cleaning cars, or being used as an
object by an elder beggar to garner
sympathy for alms. The apathy of
law and its enforcement agencies
towards the plight of these children
is a matter of big concern. There is
no legislation at the center which
comprehensively deals with
begging amongst children and
even those which exist in the
BLR, Vol. VII, Issue 4 (April-June, 2019)
various States are a far cry from
addressing this alarming situation.
This paper seeks to analyze the
laws dealing with child beggary
and the moral dilemma of
criminalizing begging against the
backdrop of poverty and
unemployment in India.
II. BEGGARY AMONGST
CHILDREN
Child exploitation in India is a
result of the macabre family
circumstances, social environment,
poverty, ignorance of family
planning and unchecked
population control, lack of proper
care and attention, and lack of love
and affection from parents.[5]
Beggary is prevalent amongst
children owing to a host of factors.
There are children who are forced
into begging by the members of
their own family in order to
provide some income to the
family. There are also those who
kidnap or traffic children and force
them into begging for their own
personal benefits. It would be
discussed later on in this paper
how the difference between the
two factors for begging plays an
important role in determining the
kind of response that the
Government authorities should
undertake in dealing with such
children.
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III. LAW REGARDING BEGGING
BY CHILDREN IN INDIA
The act of begging is prohibited in
its entirety within various states in
India. Even though there is no
Central act dealing with this, the
matter is one under the State list
and about 22 states[6]have enacted
laws against begging so far. Most
of these acts are based on the
Bombay Prevention of Beggary
Act of 1959 (hereinafter referred to
as ‘Bombay act’) with required
amendments and additions.
Section 4 of the Bombay Act
gives power to the police to arrest
any person found begging and
produce him or her before court.
Such a person, after a summary
inquiry, may be detained in a
Certified Institution for up to 3
years or up to 10 years in case of
repeat offence and even
imprisoned.[7] In case of a child
beggar, the Act provides for the
child to be produced before a court
established under the Children Act.
Hence, in effect the Bombay Act
criminalizes the act of begging.
Similarly, section 3 of the
Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary
act, 1975 (hereinafter referred to as
the ‘Karnataka act’) prohibits
begging. It makes begging under
the Act a cognizable offence[8]
and bestows upon the Magistrate
power to convict the person so
arrested and detain him in a relief
centre.[9] It is pertinent to note
here that unlike the Bombay act,
the Karnataka Act removes
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children from the definition of
‘beggar’ and hence does not
expressly apply to children found
begging.
Further, with regard to children
who are found begging, there are a
host of other Acts which become
applicable. Most of these are
central legislations applicable
throughout India and the States are
entitled to make rules under the
acts. An analysis of these is
necessary to understand the
position of law regarding children
found begging.
One of the most comprehensive
legislations which deal with
children in India is the Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act, 2015 (hereinafter
referred to as ‘JJ Act 2015). Under
section 2(14)(ii), the Act defines a
‘child in need of care and
protection’ as including a child
“…who is found working in
contravention of labour laws for
the time being in force or is found
begging, or living on the street”.
Section 2 further identifies a child
in need of care and protection as a
child whose parent or guardian is
found to be ‘unfit’ or
‘incapacitated’ or one who resides
with a person who has “…injured,
exploited, abused or neglected the
child…”. Hence the Act considers
a child who is begging as one in
need of care and protection and
also declares that such children
should not be treated as children in
conflict with law.[10] Further, the
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JJ Act 2015 also expressly
prohibits employment of children
for begging and punishes the
accused with an imprisonment of a
term up to 5 years and a fine of
one lakh rupees. The punishment
becomes more intensive if the
accused maims or amputates the
child for the purpose of begging.
The provisions of the Indian
Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter
referred to as ‘IPC’) are also
attracted in child beggary cases.
Section 363A of the IPC punishes
kidnapping or maiming a child for
the purpose of begging. Section
370 of the IPC prohibits anyone
indulging in trafficking of persons,
including children. This is further
supported by provisions against
wrongful confinement, and
kidnapping from lawful
guardianship. Another section
which is often used in dealing with
cases of child beggary is section
374 of IPC which prohibits
compelling any person to labour
against his will.
With respect to the Child
Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act which was
amended in 2016, it outright
prohibits employment of children
up till 14 years of age in any kind
of occupation and between 14 to
18 years from working in certain
hazardous industries. This has
been done with a view to ensure
that all children below the age of
14 years are enrolled in schools
under the Right to Education Act
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and are not compelled to otherwise
work.[11] Further, on enquiry as to
why child beggary was not added
within the ambit of Child Labour
Act, the Ministry of Labour
responded that since child
trafficking was already covered by
Section 370 of IPC and a child
beggar would come within the
purview of a child in need of care
and protection under the JJ Act,
replication under Child Labour Act
provisions was unnecessary.[12]
Children who are found
begging are also citizens of India
and have access to all the rights
which the Constitution of India
bestows upon its citizens. The
fundamental rights of right to
equality (Art. 14), right against
exploitation (Art. 23), right to life
(Art. 21), right to free and
compulsory education till 14 years
of age and right to constitutional
remedies (Art. 32) entitle these
children to live a dignified life
with access to proper education,
healthcare, food and protection
against being made to beg by their
own parents or any other
exploiters.
It can be concluded after
reading the above laws in harmony
with each other that even though
begging is a crime as per the
specific legislations, inducing or
forcing children to beg is also
prohibited by the law and the law
calls for protection and
rehabilitation of such children.
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IV. ANALYSIS OF THE LAW WITH
RESPECT TO THE STATE OF
KARNATAKA
Beggary is prohibited in the State
of Karnataka under the Karnataka
Prohibition of Beggary Act, 1975.
Enacted in the year 1975 the
Karnataka Act was brought into
force with the aim to “…prohibit
persons from resorting to begging
and to provide for the detention,
training and employment of
beggars, for the custody, trial and
punishment of beggar offenders
and for the relief and rehabilitation
of such persons in the State of
Karnataka…”[13]. The following
are few important observations
with respect to this act-
1.Section 2(4) of the Karnataka
Act defines ‘child’ as “…a boy,
who has not attained the age of
sixteen years, or a girl, who has
not attained the age of eighteen
years”. Further, section 2(2)
removes a child from the scope of
being considered a ‘beggar’ under
the Act. This in effect makes the
Karnataka Act inapplicable to the
cases of children who are found
begging, other than boys between
the age group of 16yrs to 18yrs.
This segregation of boys into
above and below 16years of age
can create potential conflict and
confusion with the provisions of
the Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection of Children) Act, 2015
(hereinafter referred to as ‘JJ Act
2015’). The JJ Act 2015 defines a
‘child’ as one who has not
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completed 18 years of age. Hence,
a boy between 16 to 18 years who
is found begging should also be
considered as a ‘child in need of
care and protection’ under the JJ
Act 2015 and be produced before
the Child Welfare Committee for
appropriate steps to be taken rather
than before a Magistrate.
2.Further, as mentioned earlier,
the Karnataka act bends towards
criminalizing beggary rather than
addressing its root cause. In such a
scenario, it is not clear if a child
between 16 to 18 years found
begging should be treated as a
child in conflict with law rather
than a child in need of care and
protection under the JJ Act 2015.
3.Any law enacted by the
legislature must uphold the rights
guaranteed to every citizen of
India whether rich or poor. On a
detailed reading the Karnataka act
seems to grossly violate these
rights of life, livelihood, dignity,
freedom, etc. It is not in human
nature to live a life of indignity.
Beggars do not become so out of
choice. There is room for
exception there but a vast majority
is forced into begging due to
various reasons. The Hon’ble High
Court of Delhi, while hearing a
Revision Petition[14] observed
that a person may beg either
because he is lazy, or an addict and
hence financially burdened, or
being exploited by a beggary
mafia, or has no means of
livelihood and is starving,
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homeless and helpless. When it
comes to children, it is often the
last two reasons. To traumatize
children who are already victims
of such ill fate is violative of their
fundamental rights.
4.The Karnataka act further
prohibits even receiving alms in a
public place “…whether or not
under any pretense such as singing,
dancing, fortune telling,
performing tricks, or selling
articles”[15]. Some of these
prohibitions are indeed violative of
the right to freedom of earning
livelihood by legitimate
means.[16] It should also be noted
here that the Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986 as amended in 2016, does not
prohibit a child aged 16 to 18 years
from indulging in any of these
either. In a country where there is
dearth of social security schemes
for the poor and no proper
rehabilitation facilities it becomes
a matter of grave concern and
violation of fundamental rights
when a person is stopped from
earning a livelihood by selling
knick-knacks in public areas. The
Supreme Court in the landmark
Olga Tellis[17] judgment
regarding street hawkers stated that
“…sweep of right to life conferred
by Article 21 is wide and far-
reaching… If the right to
livelihood is not treated as a part of
the constitutional right to life, the
easiest way of depriving a person
of his right to life would be to
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deprive him of his means of
livelihood to the point of
abrogation. That, which alone
makes it possible to live, leave
aside what makes life livable, must
be deemed to be an integral
component of the right to life.”
5.There is no provision in the
Karnataka act which lays down the
evidence which needs to
accompany arrest of a person for
begging. Such a procedural lapse
even in the Bombay Act, which
gives arbitrary power to the police
to arrest was the subject matter of
contention in Ram Lakhan v. State
where the Delhi High Court set
aside the arrest and detention of a
person owing to lack of
independent witnesses and
unsatisfactory testimonies of the
police officers. When it comes to
children between the age of 16 and
18 years, a lot more procedures
and precautions have to be
undertaken by the authority
making the arrest in light of the
provisions of JJ Act 2015. Being a
child in need of care and
protection, the child must be
produced before a Child Welfare
Committee under section 31 of the
JJ Act 2015 and cannot be taken to
the police station. Best practices
prescribe the presence of a social
worker or a lady officer once such
a child is picked up. Even if, for
the sake of argument, the child was
considered a child in conflict with
law, he should be handled by a
child welfare officer or a special
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 Child Beggary in India: An Analysis of the Legal Framework .....
juvenile police officer and must be
taken immediately before the
Juvenile Justice Board and not be
exposed to a police lock-up or
jail.[18]
6.It can be argued that the
Karnataka act does not apply to
children and that these situations
would be dealt with under other
laws applicable in Karnataka such
as the JJ Act 2015 and the IPC.
Even then there is a lack of
awareness and sensitization
amongst the enforcing authorities
on what the law states and what
protocol and procedure needs to be
followed in the event of the rescue
of a child beggar. Whether the
child should be separated from his
parents, whether child should be
sent to the custody of individuals
claiming to be genuine parents,
authenticity of documents
produced, lack of any
documentation to identify
relations, shortage of space in
shelter homes, etc. are just some of
the difficulties which the Child
Welfare Committees face when a
child beggar is produced before
them up on rescue.
7.Further, in cases where
children have been trafficked to
beg, the conviction rates have been
very low. One of the factors for
low conviction rates is lack of
proper procedure laid down in the
legislation for arrest and
investigation. A lot of procedural
lapses and weak evidence
gathering makes the prosecution’s
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case weak. The problem of child
abuse revolves around the
complexities of conceptualizing
and reporting of the problem, since
the abuser is someone close to the
victim. Further ‘child abuse’
includes not just sexual abuse but
also child battering, extreme
punishment, hard labour,
emotional abuse and
abandonment.[19] The poor
parents of the victims often fear
sending their children to testify
against the accused. Also,
prolonged time-period of the trial
effects the will of the victims to
come testify as they become
reluctant to go back to the
harrowing phase of their life.
These form a major roadblock in
bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The need of the hour is a complete
overhaul of the laws which deal
with beggary among children.
Either the State should remove
children completely from the ambit
of the Karnataka Act and make
specific rules to deal with such
cases under the Juvenile Justice
Rules or amend the Beggary Act to
make it beggar-friendly by
decriminalizing beggary and
giving focus on bringing down the
criminal network involved in cases
of trafficking for beggary.
V. PROHIBITING CHILD
BEGGARY: THE MORAL
DILEMMA
As discussed previously in this
paper, there are broadly two
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categories of children who beg.
The first includes those who,
owing to their poor economic
condition, are forced to beg either
by their own parents or by them
when they have nobody else to
fend for them (we will refer to this
as voluntary begging). The second
category is that of forced begging
by begging mafia or cartels (we
will refer to this as involuntary
begging).
1.Voluntary begging: When a
child is found begging under the
first category, the law would treat
the child as a child in need of care
and protection and the
rehabilitation and reintegration
processes as given under the JJ Act
2015 would follow. Two questions
arise here- a) Is our State
machinery well equipped to
effectively rehabilitate and
reintegrate the child into the
society or was the child better off
with his parents or by himself?
and, b) Whether the law should
punish the poor parents or
guardians who made the child beg?
2. Forced begging: A child
rescued from such category of
begging also is a child in need of
care and protection under JJ Act
2015 and even though the local
Beggary acts do not provide for
stringent punishments, the other
Acts such as JJ Act, IPC, etc.
provide for adequate punishment
to the culprits. In such cases the
question that again comes up is
what next for the child who is
BLR, Vol. VII, Issue 4 (April-June, 2019)
rescued? Can the State ensure that
the child is not sold to or falls into
the clutches of such traffickers
again?
The answers to these questions
is not as straight forward as it may
seem. Article 39 of the
Constitution of India states that it
is the State’s mandate to ensure
that its policies aim towards
ensuring “…Art. 39(e) that the
strength of workers, men and
women and the children of tender
age are not abused and that citizens
are not forced by economic
necessity to enter an avocation
unsuited to their age or
strength…”“…Art. 39(f) that
children are given opportunities
and facilities to develop in a
healthy manner and in conditions
of freedom and dignity and that
childhood and youth are protected
against moral and material
abandonment… .”
‘The right to live with human
dignity free from exploitation,
enshrined in Article 21 derives its
breath from Directive Principles of
State Policy and particularly the
abovementioned clauses and
Articles 41 and 42 of the
Constitution’.[20] The above two
clauses under Article 39 by
themselves are enough to point out
the duty and responsibility that the
State has towards its children.
Every hour that a child spends on
the road begging or being used to
beg portrays the failure of the
entire State machinery towards that
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 Child Beggary in India: An Analysis of the Legal Framework .....
child. It is the opinion of the
researcher that without adequate
and effective systems in place to
ensure that the destitute are given
some opportunity to earn
livelihood, the State should not
criminalize the only means of
livelihood that they have access to.
State must carefully select which
type of begging they should
prohibit.
While considering employment
of children below 18 years, the
Hon’ble Supreme Court in a few
cases has observed thus-“…We
must concede that having regard to
the prevailing socio-economic
conditions, it is not possible to
prohibit child labour altogether and
in fact, any such move may not be
socially or economically
acceptable to large masses of
people…” [21]
Further, in the case of
BandhuaMuktiMorcha v. Union of
India (1997)10SCC549 the
Hon’ble Supreme Court held that
the State is obliged to render socio-
economic justice to the child and
provide facilities and opportunities
for proper development of his
personality. It observed that the
employment of children “…either
forced or voluntary, is occasioned
due to economic necessity;
exploitation of their childhood due
to poverty, in particular, the poor
and the deprived sections of the
society, is detrimental to
democracy and social stability,
unity and integrity of the nation”.
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The court further called for
pragmatic, realistic and
constructive steps to be taken to
ensure that the children belonging
to weaker sections of the society
do not lose their childhood and
grow into a productive citizen of
our country.
If the Supreme Court, in the
above-mentioned cases has
allowed employment of children
over 14 years in some occupations,
even the Beggary laws should
allow certain type of activities in
public places for the children
above 14 years to earn some
livelihood. It is after all the State’s
mandate under the Constitution to
ensure that its children have access
to basic necessities of life. The
State has failed in this front. For
example, even the rehabilitation
homes and certified institutions
meant for the beggars are not well
equipped to train the inmates for
providing alternative platform for
sustenance. In 2010, about 286
inmates of the Nirashithara
Parihara Kendra (beggars Home),
Bangalore, died mysteriously
indicating the maladministration of
the institutional care and inhuman
attitude of the personnel engaged
in the institution.[22]
Since the State has failed to
take care of its own poor citizens,
it cannot shed its responsibility and
criminalize beggary and steal the
lives of these children as well.
Either it must ensure that there are
adequate and functional homes
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which provide support to all these
children or it must at least allow
them to fend for themselves.
VI. JUDICIARY ON BEGGARY
LAWS
As things stand, anti-beggary laws
have invited very less judicial
attention. The constitutionality of
these laws have never been
considered up until recently when
two PILs were filed as a result of
the State of Delhi removing
beggars from its streets before the
Commonwealth games.
In Ram Lakhan v. State
(2007)2RCR(Criminal)340, though
the constitutional validity of the
Bombay act was not challenged,
the High Court of Delhi anyways
made certain observations
regarding its legality. The court
was of the opinion that there was
enough scope for the Act to treat
different kinds of beggars
differently. As per the court, while
professional beggars could be tried
and detained, the State must look
at de-addiction for those who beg
because of some kind of addiction
to various substances.
“Then there is the third
category of 'beggars' who are
exploited and forced into begging
by other ring leaders. A different
approach is required here. … his
act of solicitation was not
voluntary but, under duress, the
result of exploitation at the hands
of others. The ring leaders need to
be rounded up and penalized under
BLR, Vol. VII, Issue 4 (April-June, 2019)
Section 115 of the said Act and
these "beggars" need to be released
from their exploitative clutches. …
persons who are driven to beg for
alms and food as they are starving
or their families are in hunger…
beg to survive; to remain alive. For
any civilized society to have
persons belonging to this category
is a disgrace and a failure of the
State. To subject them to further
ignobility and deprivation by
ordering their detention in a
Certified Institution is nothing
short of dehumanizing them. It is
here that courts must step in and
recognize the defence of necessity.
Judicial notice must be taken of the
fact that as the accused are poor
they will not have access to quality
legal assistance, if at all. The duty
is therefore cast upon the courts to
satisfy them that the accused did
not have a defence of necessity.
Prevention of begging is the object
of the said Act. But, one must
realize that embedded in this
object are the twin goals-Nobody
should beg and nobody should
have to beg.”
In 2009, the Government of
Delhi undertook massive drives to
gather all the beggars on the streets
of Delhi ahead of the
Commonwealth Games. It was
alleged that these beggars, instead
of being rehabilitated in shelter
homes, were merely left to fend for
themselves on the outskirts of the
city. The Government justified
their act under the garb of the
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 Child Beggary in India: An Analysis of the Legal Framework .....
Bombay Beggary Act which also
extends to Delhi. Writ Petitions
(W.P.(C) No. 10498/2009[23]and
W.P.(c) No. 117/2000[24] were
filed challenging the constitutional
validity of the Bombay Act in the
Supreme Court of India and also
the pathetic situation of Beggar’s
homes in Delhi. The petitioners
sought for basic human and
fundamental rights for the beggars
of Delhi and for decriminalization
of begging. The case, along with a
few other similar PILs was
transferred by the court to the High
Court of Delhi. As a result of the
petitions the Government brought
out a draft Bill - Persons in
Destitution (Protection, Care and
Rehabilitation) Model Bill, 2016-
to replace the legislations
governing beggary in India and to
provide for decriminalization of
begging and rehabilitation of
beggars. However, the
Government recently withdrew the
Bill without giving any adequate
justification to the Court and thus
passed another chance to address
the issue of beggary.
VII. CONCLUSION
While researching on this issue, it
was difficult to get consistent
official statistics or data regarding
child beggars in India. Even the
yearly statistical data by the
National Crime Records Bureau
does not have a dedicated chapter
on begging. Offences against these
children perhaps get recorded
BLR, Vol. VII, Issue 4 (April-June, 2019)
under the various categories of
offences under JJ Act, IPC, etc.
Hence, it is difficult to put this
issue into figures in order to
understand the depth of the
situation.
The Ministry itself admits that
children, especially ones without
family, are generally forced to beg
by traffickers.[25] If this be the
case, then why is it that the State is
not able to crack down on these
trafficking mafias and help the
children? There are enough and
more Standard operating
Procedures which detail out the
steps necessary to be undertaken to
rescue children being forced to beg
and identify and arrest the criminal
network. But it is a sad state of
affairs that most authorities find
themselves at loss about the
procedures which need to be
followed. Lack of awareness,
training on the Standard Operating
Procedures can be few reasons but
lack of will or apathy towards
children from the poorest sections
of India can also be another
reason.
There exists a vicious circle of
poverty, unemployment and
begging. It is indeed difficult to
address the issue of beggary
through laws without improving
economic conditions of its
population. There are schemes and
funds being allocated on poverty
alleviation programs but without a
proper strategy and
implementation mechanism in
bharatilawreview.com 54
 Child Beggary in India: An Analysis of the Legal Framework .....
place these remain mere lip
service. Providing voter identity
cards, BPL cards, scholarships and
incentives such as mid-day meal to
school going children are only few
baby steps. The Government needs
to relook at its strategy be it
providing vocation training for
developing skill set for
employment, strengthening the
infrastructure of rehabilitation
centers or bringing about
transparency in government
expenditure on this issue.
Till the time we do not address
effectively this crippling menace,
through law as well as socio-
economic policies, the beggars will
remain a constant reminder of how
we as a nation failed to ensure to
all the ideals of constitution.
REFERENCE
1. Census 2011, Government of India.
2. Press note on Poverty Estimates 2011-12,
Government of India Planning Commission
(July22,2013),
http://planningcommission.nic.in/news/pre_
pov2307.pdf.
3. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
on unstarred Question No.1831 in
LokSabha(Mar.8,2016),
http://164.100.47.190/loksabhaquestions/ann
ex/7/AU1831.pdf.
4. 3,00,000 Children across India are Forced
to Beg by Cartels: Report, DNA INDIA,
(June 1, 2016, 10: 03 PM),
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-
300000-children-across-india-are-forced-to-
beg-by-cartels-report- 2218856.
5. DR. S.C. TRIPATHI & VIBHA ARORA,
LAW RELATING TO WOMEN AND
CHILDREN, 424 (6th ed. 2015).
6. Acts prohibiting or preventing beggary can
be found in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Goa,
Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala,
BLR, Vol. VII, Issue 4 (April-June, 2019)
Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu,
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,
Punjab, Delhi and Daman & Diu.
7. See Bombay Prevention of Beggary Act,
1959; § 6.
8. See Bombay Prevention of Beggary Act,
1959; § 6.
9. See Bombay Prevention of Beggary Act,
1959; § 6.
10. See Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act; § 76(2).
11. Report on Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Amendment Bill 2012, Standing
Committee on Labour (2013-2014) at
(http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Chil
d%20Labour/SCRchild%20labour%20bill.p
df.
12. Supra at 31.
13. Preamble, Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary
Act, 1975, No. 27, Act of Karnataka,
1975(India).
14. Ram Lakhan v. State,
(2007)2RCR(Criminal)340(India).
15. Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary Act, 1975;
§ 2(2)(a).
16. Anugya Jain, Analysis of Beggary in India:
Strategies and Legal Framework, JUS
IMPERATOR (May 13, 2018, 11:44PM),
http://journal.jusimperator.org/wp-content
/uploads/2017/12/anugya-jain-paper1.pdf.
17. Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal
Corporation, AIR 1986 SC 180(India).
18. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act, 2015; § 10.
19. MAMTA RAO, LAW RELATING TO
WOMEN AND CHILDREN, 591 (3rd ed.
2012).
20. DR. S.C. TRIPATHI & VIBHA ARORA,
LAW RELATING TO WOMEN AND
CHILDREN, 427 (6th ed. 2015).
21. Salal Hydro Project Labourers v. State of
J&K, (1983) 2 SCC 181(India).
22. DevinaMalaviya and L. Singh,
Criminalizing Poverty: Anti Beggary Laws
in India, Indian Socio-Legal Journal, Vol.
XLI Nos.1&2 at 43 (2015).
23. Harsh Mander&Anr. V. Union of India
&Ors.
24. KarnikaSawhney v. Union of India &Ors.
25. See, Report on Child Labour(Prohibition
and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2012,
Standing Committee on Labour(2013-2014)
at 32.
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