Act 021 of 1869 : European Vagrancy Act, 1869

Section 1. Short title

PART I.

Preliminary.

1. Short title.- This Act may be called "The European Vagrancy Act, 1869."

Section 2. Commencement and extent of Act

2. Commencement and extent of Act.- Sections three, seventeen, eighteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, thirty, thirty-two, thirty-three and thirty-four shall come into operation at once, and shall extend to the whole of British India and to the dominions of Princes and States in India in alliance with Her Majesty:

Sections twenty-five, twenty-six and thirty-one shall come into operation on the first day of January 1870, and shall extend to the whole of British India and to the said dominions:

And the rest of this Act shall come into operation in such parts of British India and of the said dominions and on such day or respective days as the Governor General of India in Council shall from time to time by notification in the Gazette of India appoint in this behalf.

Section 3. Interpretation-clause

3. Interpretation-clause.- In this Act-

Interpretation-clause.- "Person of European extraction" includes Americans and Australasians:

"Person of European extraction.".- "Person of European extraction." includes Americans and Australasians.

"Vagrant.".- "Vagrant" means a person of European extraction found asking for alms, or wandering about without any employment or visible means of subsistence:

"Master of a ship.".- "Master of a ship" includes any person in charge of a decked vessel:

"Magistrate.".- And in Parts III and V of this Act "Magistrate" means, within the limits of the towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, a Magistrate of Police, and, outside those limits, a person exercising powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure not less than those of a Subordinate Magistrate of the first class.

Section 4. Power to require apparent vagrant to go before Police Magistrate, or Justice of the Peace with full powers of a Magistrate

PART II.

Procedure.

4. Power to require apparent vagrant to go before Police Magistrate, or Justice of the Peace with full powers of a Magistrate.- Any Police officer may, within the limits of the towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, require any person who is apparently a vagrant to accompany him or any other Police officer to and to appear before the nearest Magistrate of Police, and may, without those limits, require any such person to accompany him or any other Police officer to and to appear before the nearest Justice of the Peace exercising the full powers of a Magistrate under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Section 5. Summary inquiry into vagrant's circumstances

5. Summary inquiry into vagrant's circumstances.- The Magistrate of Police or Justice shall make a summary inquiry into the circumstances and character of the alleged vagrant; and if he is satisfied that such person is a vagrant, he shall record in his office a declaration to that effect.

Order to go to workhouse.- If he is further of opinion that the vagrant is not likely to obtain employment at once, or if he has reason to believe that a declaration of vagrancy has on any former occasion been recorded in respect of such vagrant, he shall-require the vagrant to go to a Government workhouse and shall draw out an order to that effect.

The vagrant shall then he placed in charge of the Police for the purpose of being forwarded to the work-house, aud the said order shall be a sufficient authority to the Police for retaining him in their charge while he is on his way to the work-house, and to the governor of the work-house for receiving and detaining such vagrant.

Section 6. Forwarding Vagrant to place of employment

6. Forwarding Vagrant to place of employment.- Where the officer making the inquiry mentioned in section five is of opinion that the vagrant is likely to obtain employment in any place subject to the Local Government or (when the vagrant is in any part of the said dominions) in any place subject to the nearest Local Government, such officer may in his discretion forward the vagrant to such place in charge of the Police and draw up an order to that effect.

Such order shall be a sufficient authority to the Police for retaining the vagrant in their charge while he is on his way to such place of employment.

Section 7. Assistance to obtain employment

7. Assistance to obtain employment.- Upon his arrival at the place of employment, the vagrant shall he taken before the nearest Magistrate of Police or Justice of the Peace exercising full powers as aforesaid, to whom the order for transmission shall be delivered.

Such officer shall thereupon, to the best of his ability, assist the vagrant in seeking employment, and may in the meantime, if he think fit, keep the vagrant in the charge of the Police.

Should the vagrant fail to obtain suitable employment within a reasonable time not exceeding fifteen days from such arrival, such officer shall forward him to a Government work-house in the manner provided by section five.

Section 8. Subsistence allowance

8. Subsistence allowance.- Every person while in charge of the Police, whether before inquiry as to Ms. vagrancy, or while he is on his way, under section five, to the work-house, or, under section six, to a place of employment, shall be entitled to an allowance for his subsistence at the rate of eight annas per diem.

The Magistrate of Police or Justice, before whom any vagrant is taken under section seven, may if he think fit, order the vagrant to receive a similar allowance while he is seeking employment.

The Local Government shall cause such allowance to he paid out of such funds at its disposal and in such manner as it may from time to time direct.

Section 9. Power to give certificates

9. Power to give certificates.- Any Magistrate of Police or Justice of the Peace exercising full powers as aforesaid may, on being satisfied that any person of European extraction is not likely to become a vagrant, give such person a certificate under his hand stating that for a certain time (mentioning it) not exceeding six months from the date of the certificate, and within certain limits (mentioning them), nothing in sections four, five, six and seven shall apply to the holder of such certificate; and thereupon (subject to the provisions contained in sections twenty-three and twenty-four) nothing in sections four, five, six and seven shall apply to such person for such time and within such limits as aforesaid.

Form of certificate.- Every such certificate shall be in the form set forth in the first schedule to this Act annexed, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit.

Section 10. Power to invest Justices, District Superintendents of Police, & c., with, jurisdiction of full power Justices under Part II

10. Power to invest Justices, District Superintendents of Police, & c., with, jurisdiction of full power Justices under Part II.- The Local Government may from time to time, by notification the official Gazette, invest any Justice of the Peace, District Superintendent of Police, or Assistant District Superintendent of Police with the jurisdiction and powers conferred by this Part on a Justice of the Peace exercising full powers as aforesaid.

Section 11. Provision of Government work-houses

PART III.

Government Work-houses.

11. Provision of Government work-houses.- The Local Government, with the previous sanction of the Governor General of India in Council, may provide work-houses, with their necessary furniture and establishment, at such places as it may think proper, for the temporary reception of vagrants,

or may by waiting under the hand of a Secretary to such Government, certify any building, or part of a building not provided as a work-house under the former part of this section, to be fit for a work-house for the purposes of this Act. Every such certificate shall be published in the local official Gazette, and thereupon such building or part of a building shall, until the Local Government otherwise, orders, be deemed a Government work-house under this Act.

Scale of diet.- The Local Government shall allow the same scale of diet for the support of vagrants received in such work-houses as is for the time being allowed for Europeans confined in the local prisons or penitentiaries.

Section 12. Superintendence of work-houses

12. Superintendence of work-houses.- Every such work-house shall be under the immediate charge of a governor, who shall be appointed and may be suspended or removed by the Local Government.

Every such governor shall, if the Local Government think fit, be subject to the orders of a Committee of Management appointed from tine to time by such Government, or, in the absence of a Committee, to the orders of such officer as the Local Government shall from time to time appoint in this behalf.

Section 13. Search of vagrants

13. Search of vagrants.- Every such governor may order that any vagrant admitted to the work-house under his charge shall be searched, and that the vagrant's bundles, packages and other effects shall be inspected, and may direct that any money then found with or on the vagrant, shall be applied (subject to the orders of the Local Government) towards the expense of carrying this Act into execution, and may order that all or any of the said effects shall be sold, and that the produce of the sale be applied as aforesaid, but subject to the like orders.

Section 14. Discipline

14. Discipline.- Vagrants admitted to work-houses under this Act shall be subject to such rules of management and discipline as may from time to time be prescribed by the Local Government with the previous sanction of the Governor General of India in Council.

Any vagrant who knowingly disobeys or neglects any such rule, shall, on conviction before a Magistrate, be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months.

Section 15. Refusal to employment

15. Refusal to employment.- The governor and the Committee of Management (if any) of every such work-house shall use his and their best endeavours to obtain outside the work-house suitable employment for the vagrants admitted thereto.

When such employment is obtained, any such vagrant refusing or neglecting to avail himself thereof, shall, on conviction before a Magistrate, be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month.

Section 16. Removal of vagrants and Cost of removal

PART IV.

Removal from India.

16. Removal of vagrants and Cost of removal.- If after the lapse of a reasonable time no suitable employment is obtainable for any such vagrant, the Local Government may either (when he shall have entered into such agreement as hereinafter mentioned) cause him to be removed from British India in manner hereinafter provided, the cost of such removal being paid by Government.

or it may cause sections twenty-three and thirty to be read to him and may then release him.

Section 17. Agreements with vagrants

17. Agreements with vagrants.- Any vagrant or other person of European extraction may enter into an agreement in writing with the Secretary of State for India in Council, binding himself-

(a.) to proceed to such port in British India as shall he mentioned in the agreement;

(b.) there to embark on board such ship and at such time as shall be directed by an officer appointed in this behalf by the Local Government of the territories in which such port is situate, for the purpose of being removed from India at the expense of the said Secretary of State in Council;

(c.) to remain on board such ship until she shall have arrived at her port of destination; and

(d.) not to return to India until five years shall have elapsed from the date of such embarkation.

Form of agreement.- Every such agreement may he on unstamped paper and shall be in the form set forth in the second schedule to this Act annexed, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit.

Section 18. Power to perform agreement

18. Power to perform agreement.- The Local Government of the territories in which the said port is situate may enter into such contracts for conveyance or otherwise, and perform such other acts as may be necessary to carry out such agreement on the part of the said Secretary of State in Council.

Section 19. Refusal to go before Police Magistrate or Justice

PART V.

Penalties.

19. Refusal to go before Police Magistrate or Justice.- Any person refusing or failing to accompany a Police officer to, or to appear before, a Magistrate of Police or Justice of the Peace, for the purpose, of preliminary inquiry, when required so to do under section four, shall be punishable, whether he be or be not an European British subject, on conviction before a Magistrate, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine, or with both.

Assaulting Police.- And any person who, when required under section four to accompany a Police officer to, or to appear before a Magistrate of Police or Justice of the Peace, commits an offence punishable under section three hundred and fifty-three of the Indian Penal Code, may, whether he be or be not an European British subject, be tried by a Magistrate for such offence.

Section 20. Escaping from Police

20. Escaping from Police.- Any vagrant escaping from the Police while committed to their charge under the orders specified in sections five and six,

Quitting work-house without leave.- or leaving a work-house under this Act without permission from the governor,

shall for every such offence be punishable, on conviction before a Magistrate, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years.

Section 21. Failing to proceed to port of embarkation

21. Failing to proceed to port of embarkation.- Any person entering into an agreement under section seventeen and failing to proceed in pursuance thereof to the port therein mentioned,

Refusing to go on boardship.- or refusing to embark when directed so to do under the same section,

Escaping from ship.- or escaping from the ship in which he has so embarked before she shall have reached her port of destination,

shall for every such offence be punishable, whether lie be or be not an European British subject, on conviction before a Magistrate, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months.

Section 22. Returning to India

22. Returning to India.- Any person returning to India within five years of the date of his embarkation pursuant to any agreement entered into under section seventeen, unless specially permitted so to do by the Secretary of State for India, shall for every such offence be punishable, whether he be or be not an European British subject, on conviction before a Magistrate, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years.

Section 23. Begging

23. Begging.- Any person of European extraction found asking for alms when he has sufficient means of subsistence,

or asking for alms in a threatening or insolent manner,

or continuing to ask for alms of any person after he has been required to desist,

shall be punishable, whether he be or be not an European British subject, on conviction before a Magistrate, with rigorous imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month for the first offence, two months for the second, and three months for any subsequent offence.

Section 24. Procedure on close of imprisonment

24. Procedure on close of imprisonment.- Every person imprisoned under section nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two or twenty-three shall, at the end of his term of imprisonment, be placed before the nearest Magistrate of Police or Justice of the Peace exercising full powers as aforesaid, who shall, if he think fit, forthwith deal with him in the manner prescribed by sections five and six.

The order of transmission shall certify the fact of the previous conviction.

Section 25. Penalty on shipmaster bringing European convicts to India

25. Penalty on shipmaster bringing European convicts to India.- Every master of a ship landing or allowing to land in any part of British India any person of European extraction who has been convicted in any other part of Her Majesty's dominions of felony or of an offence which, if committed in England, would be felony, shall, on conviction before a Magistrate, be liable, for every person so landed or allowed to land, to pay a fine not exceeding five hundred rupees and not less than one hundred rupees, and, in default of payment, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding two months,

unless the defendant shall satisfy the Magistrate by evidence (which the defendant is hereby declared competent to give), that he had made clue enquiry as to the person so landed or allowed to land, and that he had 110 reason to believe that such person had been convicted as aforesaid.

Power to exempt certain shipmasters.- The Governor General of India in Council may from time to time, by notification in the Gazette of India, exempt from the operation of the former part of this section the masters of any class of ships, on such terms as to the said Governor General in Council shall seem fit, and whether in respect of all or of any part of the persons on board such ships.

The said Governor General in Council may in like manner revoke any exemption made under this section.

Section 26. Recovery of fines

26. Recovery of fines.- All fines imposed under this Act may be recovered, if for offences committed outside the local limits of the towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, in the manner prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, and if for offences committed within those limits, in the manner prescribed by any Act regulating the Police of such towns in force for the time being.

Payment of fines.- All fines recovered under this Act shall be paid to the credit of the Government of India, or as such Government shall from time to time direct.

Section 27. Prosecutions

27. Prosecutions.- All prosecutions under this Act may be instituted and conducted by such officer as the Local Government shall from time to time appoint.

Section 28. Limits of jurisdiction

28. Limits of jurisdiction.- In imposing penalties under this Part and Part III of this Act, no person shall exceed the limits of jurisdiction prescribed for him by the Code of Criminal Procedure in the case of offenders not being European British subjects.

Section 29. Validity of proceedings where Police Magistrate or Justice is not the nearest

29. Validity of proceedings where Police Magistrate or Justice is not the nearest.- No proceeding under this Act shall be deemed invalid by reason only that the Magistrate of polish or Justice, before whom a person apparently a vagrant was required to appear, or before whom a person was placed under section twenty-four, was not the nearest.

Section 30. Deprivation of privileges of European British subjects under Criminal Procedure Code

PART VI.

Miscellaneous.

30. Deprivation of privileges of European British subjects under Criminal Procedure Code.- Any European British subject who, upon the summary enquiry mentioned in section five, has been determined to be a vagrant, or who has been convicted under section twenty-two or section twenty-three, shall, so long as he remains in India, be subject, beyond the limits of the said towns, to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (other than those contained in Chapter XIX of the same Code) applicable to an European not being a British subject.

If from any cause be is committed or held to bail by a Justice of the Peace to take his trial before a High Court, he shall not he at liberty to object to the jurisdiction of such Justice of the Peace or High Court on the ground of anything contained in the former part of this section.

An office copy of the declaration recorded under section five shall be primâ facie evidence that the European British subject named therein has been, upon such enquiry, determined to be a vagrant.

Section 31. Liability of importers of Europeans or employers of soldiers becoming vagrants

31. Liability of importers of Europeans or employers of soldiers becoming vagrants.- Whenever any person of European extraction lands India,

or, being a Non-Commissioned Officer or Soldier in Her Majesty's army, leaves that army in India,

under an engagement to serve any other person, or any Company, Association or Body of persons in any capacity,

and becomes chargeable to the State as a vagrant within one year after his arrival in India or leaving the Army, as the case may be, then the person, or Company, Association or Body, to serve whom lie has so landed in India or left, the army, shall be liable to pay to the Government the cost of his removal under this Act and all other charges incurred by the State 111 consequence of his becoming a vagrant.

Recovery of charges.- Such costs and charges shall be recoverable by suit as if an express agreement to repay them had been entered into with the Secretary of State for India in Council, by the person, Company, Association or Body chargeable.

Section 32. Exercise of conferred on Government

32. Exercise of conferred on Government.- The powers and duties conferred and imposed by sections sixteen and eighteen on a Local Government may be exercised and performed by such class of officers as the Local Government shall from time to time, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint in this behalf.

Section 33. Exercise in Native States of powers conferred on Magistrates, Justices and Police

33. Exercise in Native States of powers conferred on Magistrates, Justices and Police.- The powers and duties conferred and imposed by this Act on Magistrates, Justices of the Peace exercising the full powers of a Magistrate, and Police officers respectively may, in places beyond the limits of British India, be exercised and performed by such persons respectively as the Governor General of India in Council shall from time to time by notification in the Gazette of India appoint in this behalf.

Section 34. Power to make rules for guidance of officers

34. Power to make rules for guidance of officers.- The Governor General of India in Council may from time to time make rules consistent with this Act for the guidance of officers in matters connected with its enforcement.

All such rules shall be published in the Gazette of India.