Come up with plan to rehabilitate beggars: BJP tells AAP govt

The opposition BJP today dubbed the High Court's order decriminalising begging in the national capital a "double-edged sword" and asked the Delhi government to come up with a plan to rehabilitate beggars.

The Delhi High Court today decriminalised begging in the national capital, saying provisions penalising the act were unconstitutional and deserved to be struck down.

"Decriminalisation of begging is a double-edged sword. Now, the beggars will not be looked at as criminals, but there are organised begging rackets also," he said.

"The Delhi government needs to come up with a plan to impart skill training and rehabilitate the beggars," he said.

The court also said the state is at liberty to bring in alternative legislation to curb any racket of forced begging after undertaking an empirical examination on the sociological and economic aspect of the matter.

The Centre and the AAP government had in October 2016 told the court that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had drafted a bill to decriminalise begging and rehabilitate beggars and homeless people. But the proposal to amend the legislation was later dropped.

Currently, there is no central law on begging and destitution and most states have adopted the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, which criminalises begging, or have modelled their laws on it.