Nagpur police ban beggars from gathering in public places to beg

The Nagpur police recently used this provision to prohibit transgender persons from visiting public places, homes, wedding ceremonies and other events to “extort” money.

NAGPUR: The Nagpur police on Wednesday prohibited beggars from gathering at the city’s traffic intersections and unauthorisedly occupying the footpath.

The Nagpur police has issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC (Twiter/Nagpurpolice)

An order issued by the commissioner of police Amitesh Kumar said the order was issued in view of incidents of beggars harassing motorists and other passersby, obstructing the smooth flow of traffic and pedestrians, and causing a nuisance.

The bar on beggars was issued under section 144 of the code of criminal procedure which empowers the police commissioner to issue directions to deal with urgent cases of nuisance and apprehension of danger. The provision is mostly invoked to prohibit more than four people from gathering in any area. A violation of the prohibitory orders issued against this section is punishable with a jail term of one month or six months, depending on the impact of the disobedience of the public order.

The Nagpur police said the bar was aimed at preventing cases of nuisance and danger to the public and ensuring public safety by maintaining smooth traffic flow and pedestrian movement in Nagpur.

The city police recently invoked its powers under Section 144 to prohibit transgender persons from visiting public places, homes, wedding ceremonies and other events to “extort” money. The order said voluntary donations and invitations to the transgender community would be allowed, and they could attend or perform with the consent of the house owners or organizers as a right to livelihood and life. Imposters posing as transgender too have been brought under the scanner.

Kumar said that there had been a steady flow of complaints from citizens about the inconvenience, discomfort and intimidation they faced from beggars in traffic signals and other public places. In view of such complaints, the city police initiated the move, he said.