Homeless people should also work for the country. Everything cannot be provided by the state: Bombay High Court

 

On Saturday, the Bombay High Court ruled that even homeless people and beggars must work for the country since they cannot expect the state to provide everything for them.

This was stated by a division bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni while dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Brijesh Aarya, requesting the court for directing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to provide nutritious meals thrice a day, potable water, shelter and clean public toilets for beggars, homeless persons, and poor people in the city.

According to the submissions made by the BMC before the court, the BMC with the help of NGOs, has been distributing food packets to such people all over Mumbai, and women from this section of the society were being provided sanitary napkins.

The bench while accepting this submission of BMC observed that, "They (homeless persons) should also work for the country. Everyone is working. Everything cannot be provided by the state. You (petitioner) are just increasing the population of this section of the society”.

The court also questioned the petitioner, saying it would be "inviting people to not work" if all prayers sought in the petition were granted. In addition, the bench noted that the petition did not disclose specifics about who a homeless person is, the number of homeless people in the city, etc.

However, in its order, the division bench directed the state government to consider allowing homeless persons to use public toilets free of charge, “We direct the state government to look if the homeless persons can use these toilets free of charge,” the bench said.