India, Sept. 16 -- A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed before the Bombay High Court has challenged the constitutional validity of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1960, contending that it criminalises individuals living in conditions of poverty, homelessness and destitution by authorising their arrest, detention and institutionalisation solely on the basis of their socio- economic condition.

The Act is violative of constitutional rights, confers wide and unguided discretionary powers on the executive, and permits deprivation of personal liberty through arrest and detention without a constitutionally permissible basis, according to the PIL filed by the nonprofit Centre for Promoting Democracy (CPD).

Continued enforcement of the...