They Check in, But Almost Never Leave

Untreated wounds, manic episodes and chronic illnesses ... people being shoved into beggars' homes need treatment and therapy. Instead, they are locked up and forgotten

- By Pritha Vashishth, IS OUTLOOK'S MUMBAI-BASED CORRESPONDENT

MADAM, don't worry. I will take you to the right place,” said the driver. “Three years ago, my father forgot his way home. One day, I found him at the Beggars’ Home,” said the man in his 50s.

There are two buildings at the Beggars’ Home—one for men, one for women. Each gate opens into its own echo chamber. The corridors smell of boiled rice, bleach, and slow decay. The floors are cracked in places; the walls stained with forgotten monsoons. There’s a silence that crushes. They mutter to themselves, rocking gently like metronomes marking a time no one counts. Most come here with nothing, leave with less. Names fade into numeric records. Bunk beds lined in rows, sheets seldom changed, clothes hanging on rusted wires. A tap leaks continuously in one corner.

“Under the Maharashtra Prevention of Begging Act, 1960, anyone seen ‘wandering aimlessly’ or suspected of ‘begging’ can be arrested without a warrant,” said Sapna Yande, a probation officer. “Many of them come in already dying. Tuberculosis, leprosy, madness, age. Here, they just finish dying.”

Many of these women should not be here, said Pallavi Thakkre, a former Koshish volunteer, an initiative by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. “They’re not criminals. They’re sick. They need therapy, not confinement,” she says.

Once arrested, homeless people are brought before a magistrate. For seven days, they are ‘processed’— examined, questioned, searched for family like lost parcels. If found trafficked, they are redirected. If not, they are convicted and locked away for being poor.

In the ward, you’ll find women staring out from rusted iron grilles, some humming under their breath, some curled into themselves like questions unanswered too long. There are long silences interrupted by sudden laughter or loud sobs. Some talk to walls. Some wait for visitors who never come.