MUMBAI, 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 law "directly affects homeless persons, migrant workers, informal labourers, persons with disabilities, members of Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNT), and other economically and socially vulnerable sections of society", the PIL says. It also cites an incident from December last year, where several individuals residing in Borivali, allegedly surviving through casual labour, were taken into custody and proceedings were initiated against them under the provisions of the Act. The arrested individuals were produced before the magistrate court, and despite being granted release on surety, were transferred to the Certified Institution (beggars' home) in Chembur, where they remained confined until their eventual release in accordance with law. According to the PIL, the Act provides for the detention of not only those who beg but also their dependents, making it the only legislation, barring the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1967, in which the offender's dependents are punished. The PIL says that the "absence of procedural safeguards renders the Act as arbitrary and susceptible to misuse". In practice, it enables police to detain individuals merely on suspicion or appearance, thereby disproportionately targeting the homeless, destitute, and other marginalised persons....