Delhi: Plea seeks end to begging by children, HC issues notice

The division bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Amit Bansal granted time to the authorities, which also include the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, for submission of their response to the public interest litigation and listed the case for hearing on September 27.

Ajay Gautam, a resident of Shahdara, in the petition said that a “begging mafia” was actively behind the “menace of begging” and they “kidnap, train, force and torture innocent children for begging”. Authorities have failed to take any remedial steps despite child beggars being visible across Delhi, states the plea.

“Every kind of inhuman method is adopted for begging using toddlers and children. The condition of young girls who are pushed in this profession is worse and cannot be described in words. These young girls are exploited physically and sexually,” Gautam stated in the petition.

The petition argues that the Article 39(e) of the constitution specifically provides that State should ensure that the tender age of children is not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations “unsuited to their age or strength”.

“Although before the beginning of the Commonwealth Games in India in the year 2010, the Government of Delhi had take strict action in this regard and beggars were not seen during the period of games, but as soon as these games culminated, the begging menace again became the same and till date is the same,” Gautam stated in the plea.