What happens when the State machinery aims its might against vulnerable citizens? The district collector of Bhopal recently issued an executive order under Section 163 (2) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, (BNSS), prohibiting begging in public areas. The order warns of penal action against those either found to be giving or taking alms.

Section 163 (2), formerly Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, empowers the State to maintain public peace, as it can be invoked by the concerned authority in “urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger”. A catena of judgments by the Supreme Court have held that since this section enables the State to undertake preventive measures, the provision, considering its serious implications for fundamental rights, should only be used “to preserve law and order”, with due regard to the specific safeguards to prevent its misuse. Considering that such orders can be passed without giving the concerned........

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