New Delhi: Human rights activist and writer Harsh Mander has in an open letter condemned Supreme Court judge Justice B.R. Gavai’s usage of the term “parasites” while talking about shelters for homeless people in Delhi during a court hearing on 12 February.
Mander noted in his letter, shared online Saturday, that he felt compelled to respond particularly to two words used by Justice Gavai, “parasites” and “freebies”.
The court was hearing civil writ petitions concerning the implementation of the scheme of Shelter for Urban Homeless, when Justice Gavai reportedly remarked: “Sorry to say, but by not making these people part of mainstream society, are we not creating a class of parasites? Because of freebies, when elections are declared… people are not willing to work. They are getting free rations without doing any work! Would it not be better to make them part of mainstream society so that they can contribute to the nation?”
Mander said that the matter concerned “the lives (and possible deaths) of masses of our most destitute and dispossessed citizens in cities and towns across the country”.
He asserted that he was writing the letter since the Supreme Court is the “highest forum” for Indian citizens to turn to in their last resort to seek justice and to defend their constitutional rights.
“For citizens who suffer comprehensive daily violations of even their right to life with dignity, assured under Article 21 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court can literally make the difference between life and death,” Mander notes. “And few in the cities we live suffer more brutal daily violations of their right to life than our homeless fellow-citizens.”
Explaining his position, Mander said he is one of the petitioners in the case hearing in which Justice Gavai made the remarks.
“I was for 12 years the Special Commissioner of the Supreme Court for the landmark Writ Petition 196 of 2001 PUCL versus the Union of India (popularly known as the right to food case) and with Commissioner N.C. Saxena raised the question of shelters for homeless people,” he states, adding that he has over the years worked closely with the homeless in Delhi and other cities.
“I have come to know them closely, and think of them as my sisters, brothers and children,” he writes, asserting that far from being “parasites”, they are the city’s most destitute and dispossessed working people.
“Unprotected by the state, by any labour law, or any union, they crowd on numerous street corners each morning—be it winter, summer or the monsoons—in what we call ‘labour chowks’,” he says, adding that they offer their labour on “dirt wages” while some of them are even taken to distant farms and sometimes “chained and forced to work”.
“It is they who push heavy loads, clean our streets, build our homes and offices and cater in our marriage parties. Parasites certainly they are not.”
Homelessness, Mander argues, is a symptom of society’s failure, not a personal choice.
On Monday, Mander told ThePrint that over the past two decades, he has been working with the homeless to get to know them closely.
According to Mander, there are no policies to address the issues of homeless people who continue to remain vulnerable and unsafe. “Over the years, I learnt that poverty is difficult enough, destitution is worse. It means a lack of any kind of social connection, a denial of self-esteem, and a denial of the fact that life will ever get better for them.”
Other than Mander, till now, a coalition of over 300 citizens, activists and organisations have in a statement condemned Justice Gavai’s remarks. Moreover, CPM politburo member Brinda Karat has also written to the judge, noting that his remarks overlook people’s survival for struggle.
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‘Shelters are not the destination of homeless people’
Responding to criticism that advocacy for the homeless equates to seeking “freebies”, Mander recalled his 2010-11 petition with Saxena to the Supreme Court. Their efforts led to a landmark ruling in 2012 that compelled state governments to construct night shelters for the vulnerable, reinforcing Article 21 of the Constitution.
While over 2,000 shelters were built across the nation, Mander noted that many lacked “sanitation and dignity” and likened them to Victorian England “poorhouses”.
Concluding his letter, Mander urged India’s highest court to recognise the homeless not as burdens but as vulnerable workers abandoned by the state.
He told ThePrint that while the attitude of the state toward them has been such that “you want to drive them away”, in practice, the homeless people work hard to make ends meet. Meanwhile, women are subjected to rape and sexual violence, while children are subjected to abuse, he pointed out.
Suggesting possible solutions to make the lives of homeless people better, Mander said that “shelters are not the destination of homeless people”, rather they need to be recognised as a first step and the administration needs to create ways so that the homeless don’t sleep on streets, or in shelters permanently.
Moreover, domestic violence against women needs to be prevented, hostels and schools need to be constructed for homeless children, and universal pensions and ration cards that they can use without documents and election cards should be provided, he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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Activists surely love to “bend it like Beckham” or worse even more ! Homeless and freebies are equating apples to oranges. Mr Mander should introspect of an iPhone wielding lady travelling for free in a government bus is the same as a homeless person. And if there are 800 million homeless people in India who need to be fed. The SC too is not all innocent. It did not feed its wisdom for the past decade when “free bijlee, free paani” discourse rode a certain political entity to power for most part of last decade.