Custodial Deaths at Beggar's Colony

Context: Deaths of INMATES in beggar's colony.

• Inmates are "detained" under the Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary act. This act makes "begging" a criminal act
• On "suspicion" of being a "beggar", you can be picked up by the police and sent to detention after a magisterial enquiry. 
• In reality due process is NOT followed. 
• People are picked up and sent into the "custody" of the "Beggar's Home"
• The inmates who have died were in the "custody" of the state. Therefore these deaths are custodial deaths.
• Inmates of the "Beggars Home" - because they are in State custody, are entitled to some Civil Liberties which include - legal aid, visits from relatives, food and basic necessities such a portable water
• None of these were made available to the inmates and the deaths should be treated as "homicide by the state".
• This is not a administration issue, the way the media seeks to portray it.  It is a case of custodial death!!

My friend Arul Selva of Slum Jagathu gave me this argument and I agree!

My take:

• The current laws make poverty a crime. The sentence for this crime is "detention" in the "Beggars Home". This is the equivalent of a death sentence. 
• Did somebody say we were living in a democracy? Wake up and smell the SHIT!