(W.P. Ordinance XX of 1958)
[1 October 1958]
An
Ordinance to amend and consolidate the law relating to vagrancy in the Province
of [3][3][the Punjab]
Preamble.— WHEREAS it is expedient to amend and
consolidate the law relating to vagrancy in the Province of the [4][4][Punjab] in the manner hereinafter appearing;
AND,
WHEREAS, the Provincial Assembly of West Pakistan is not in session and the
Governor of West Pakistan is satisfied that circumstances exist which render
immediate action necessary;
NOW,
THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 102 of the
Constitution, the Governor of West Pakistan is pleased to make and promulgate
the following Ordinance:-
1. Short title, extent and commencement.— (1) This Ordinance may be called the [5][5][Punjab] Vagrancy Ordinance, 1958.
(3) It shall come into force in such area or
areas and on such date or dates as Government may, by notification, direct.
2. Definitions.— In this Ordinance, unless the context
otherwise requires, the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby
respectively assigned to them, that is to say—
(a) “child” means a person under the age of
fourteen years;
(d) “guardian” in relation to a
child, includes any person who in the opinion of the court having cognizance of
any case in which a child is concerned, has for the time being the charge of or
control over such child;
(e) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made
under this Ordinance;
(f) “public place” includes any public park,
garden, railway station, ground or vehicle to which the public for the time
being have access, whether on payment or otherwise;
(g) “vagrant” means a person who—
(i) solicits or receives alms
in a public place;
(ii) exposes or exhibits any
sore, wound, injury, deformity or disease in a public place for the purpose of
soliciting or receiving alms;
(iii) allows himself to be
used as an exhibit for the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms;
(iv) enters
on any private premises without the invitation of the occupier for the purpose
of soliciting or receiving alms;
but does not include a person who solicits or
receives money, food or gift for a
purpose authorised by rules under a prescribed certificate;
(h) “welfare home” means an
institution established and maintained by Government for the detention,
training, employment and maintenance of vagrants and their dependents other
than those who are lepers, lunatics or suffering from contagious diseases and
includes an institution notified by Government as such for the purposes of this
Ordinance.
3. Welfare homes.— (1) Government shall establish and maintain
one or more welfare homes at such place or places as it thinks fit for the
custody and detention of vagrants.
(2) Government may, by notification, declare
any existing charitable or other institution with previous consent of the
controlling authority of such institution and on such conditions as may be
mutually agreed upon between Government and the said authority, to be a welfare
home for the purposes of this Ordinance.
4. Manager.— Every welfare home
shall be under the immediate charge of a manager appointed by Government and
such manager shall be assisted by such medical and educational staff as
Government may appoint.
5. Duties of the manager.— (1) The manager of a welfare home shall, as
soon as may be, get every vagrant medically examined and the report of the
examination shall state, inter alia—
(a) the sex and the age of the vagrant;
(b) whether the vagrant is a leper?
(c) whether he is suffering from any other
contagious disease?
(d) whether the vagrant is insane, or mentally
deficient?
(e) what is the general state of health and bodily
condition of the vagrant and for which, if any, of the prescribed types of work
such vagrant is fit?
(2) The manager of a welfare home shall keep
the following classes of vagrants separately from each other—
(a) children;
(b) females;
(c) lepers or persons suffering from contagious
diseases;
(d) lunatics;
(e) infirm, old or incapacitated;
(f) able bodied:
Provided
that children less than seven years of age or females may be allowed to take up
residence in the same apartment in which any male member of their family is
confined.
(3) The manager shall arrange—
(a) for
the education of the children detained in the welfare home;
(b) for such instruction of the vagrants, as may
rehabilitate them in useful trades and make them self-supporting.
6. Voluntary
admission to welfare homes.— Any old, infirm or disabled person or a child may
present himself before the [10][10][District Officer, Social Welfare] for being
admitted to a welfare home and if the [11][11][District Officer, Social Welfare] is satisfied
that such person has no source of livelihood, he may be detained in a welfare
home till such time as such person becomes possessed of means of livelihood or
applies for his release from custody.
7. Powers of police officer to arrest and
search vagrants and seize things liable to confiscation.— (1) Any police officer may without an order
from a magistrate and without a warrant, arrest and search any person who
appears to him to be a vagrant and may seize anything found on or about such
person which he has reason to believe to be liable to confiscation under this
Ordinance.
(2) A person arrested under the last
preceding sub-section, shall be released if he furnishes bail to the
satisfaction of the police officer making arrest for his appearance before the
magistrate having jurisdiction in the area where the arrest is made.
(3) If the person arrested is not able to
furnish bail to the satisfaction of the police officer making arrest, such
person shall be detained in custody and shall be produced before the nearest
magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest, excluding the
time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Court of the
magistrate and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said
period without an authority of the magistrate.
8. Trial.— When the person
arrested under the last preceding section appears or is brought before the
magistrate, he shall be tried in accordance with the procedure prescribed for
the trial of summons cases under Chapter XX of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1898 (V of 1898):
Provided
that whenever any magistrate, after having heard and recorded the whole or any
part of the evidence in a trial, ceases to exercise jurisdiction therein, and
is succeeded by another magistrate, who has and who exercises such
jurisdiction, the magistrate so succeeding may act on the evidence so recorded
by his predecessor or partly recorded by his predecessor and partly recorded by
himself, or he may resummon the witnesses and recommence the enquiry or trial.
9. Sentence for vagrancy.— If the magistrate finds that a person is a
vagrant, such person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description
for a period not exceeding three years:
Provided
that in any case in which a person who has not been previously convicted of an
offence under this Ordinance, is convicted of an offence under this Ordinance,
the magistrate may instead of sentencing him to a term of imprisonment, release
him after due admonition on his, or in case such vagrant is a child, on his
guardian entering into a bond with or without sureties to appear and receive
the sentence when called upon during such period (not exceeding three years) as
the magistrate may direct and in the meantime to refrain from conducting
himself as a vagrant.
10. Punishment for employing or causing persons
to ask for alms.— Whoever
employs or causes any person to solicit or receive alms or uses a person as an
exhibit for the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms or being the guardian
of a child connives at or encourages the employment or the causing of the child
to solicit or receive alms shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.
11. Presumption.— If a person has no ostensible source of
subsistence and wanders about or remains in a public place in such condition or
manner as raises a reasonable suspicion that he is there to solicit or receive
alms, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved that such person is a
vagrant.
12. Detention of
dependents.— (1) If any vagrant sentenced under section 9 to a term of imprisonment
has a child below seven years of age or any other person wholly dependent upon
him, the magistrate may, after making such inquiry as he thinks fit and after
giving such person an opportunity of being heard, direct that such child or
person shall be detained in the welfare home so long as the vagrant remains in
custody:
Provided
that a child of the vagrant who is below the age of seven years shall be
detained alongwith the vagrant until he attains the age of seven years.
(2) Where the dependent is a child above
seven years of age, or when the child detained under the last preceding
sub-section, attains the age of seven years, the magistrate or any other
officer empowered by Government in this behalf may direct that such child be
detained in any other institution approved by Government.
13. Compulsory
contribution by persons bound to maintain vagrants.— (1) If the magistrate
is satisfied that a vagrant or a person bound to maintain a vagrant has
sufficient means, he shall make an order directing such vagrant or the person
bound to maintain such vagrant, as the case may be, to contribute in the
prescribed manner towards the maintenance of such vagrant in a welfare home:
Provided
that no order under this sub-section shall be made without giving the person
from whom contribution is required the opportunity of being heard.
(2) If any contribution directed by the
magistrate under the last preceding sub-section remains unpaid, the same may be
recovered as arrears of land revenue.
14. Place of detention or imprisonment.— A vagrant arrested under this Ordinance
shall remain in custody, or, if convicted serve his term of imprisonment in the
prescribed manner, as the case may be, in the nearest welfare home or such
other place as Government may by general or special order, direct.
15. Transfer of vagrants from welfare homes.— The Controller or any other officer
specially empowered by Government in this behalf may by an order in writing
direct the transfer of a vagrant from one welfare home to another or to any
other place appointed by Government in this behalf.
16. Release on probation or short leave.— The Controller or other officer specially
empowered by Government in this behalf may, subject to such conditions as may
be prescribed,—
(a) release any vagrant on probation after he has
served imprisonment for a period not less than one year;
(b) release a vagrant detained in a welfare home by
granting him a licence and, after the expiration of three months from the
commencement of the release on licence, recommend to Government the
unconditional release of such vagrant if he considers that there is probability
of such vagrant’s abstaining from vagrancy;
Provided
that a vagrant contravening any condition relating to his release on licence
may be re-arrested under the orders of the Controller and sent to the welfare
home for completing the sentence awarded to him under section 9.
17. Powers of discharge of vagrants from welfare
homes.— The Controller or
any other officer specially empowered by Government in this behalf may
discharge a vagrant from a welfare home—
(a) if he is satisfied that a vagrant has become
possessed of an income sufficient to enable him to support himself without
resorting to vagrancy;
(b) if a relative of such vagrant, or a person
interested in the welfare of the vagrant, enters into a bond with or without
sureties to look after and maintain such vagrant and to prevent him from
resorting to vagrancy;
(c) on the certificate of the manager of the welfare
home that satisfactory employment has been obtained for such vagrant;
(d) for any other good and
sufficient reason to be recorded in writing.
18. Effect of other laws and enactments.— The provisions of this Ordinance, and any
order made or action taken under this Ordinance, shall have effect
notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any enactment
other than this Ordinance, for the time being in force, and any instrument
having its effect by virtue of any such enactment other than this Ordinance.
19. Cognizance and bail.— All offences under this Ordinance shall be
cognizable and bailable.
20. Jurisdiction.— No offence under this Ordinance shall be
triable by any magistrate other than a magistrate of the first class.
21. Appeal.— Any person aggrieved by an order of a magistrate under this Ordinance
may within thirty days of such order appeal to the [13][13][* * *] Sessions Court.
22. Persons to be deemed to be public servants.— All persons empowered to perform any
function under this Ordinance shall be deemed to be public servants within the
meaning of section 21 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860.
23. Indemnity.— No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceeding shall lie against any
person for anything in good faith done or intended to be done under this
Ordinance.
24. Articles liable to confiscation.— All things and money found on or about a
vagrant except the necessary wearing apparel shall be liable to confiscation to
Government under this Ordinance.
25. Power to make rules.— (1) Government may make rules for carrying
out the purposes of this Ordinance.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to
the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of
the following matters, namely:-
(a) the purposes for which a person may solicit or
receive money or ask for food or gift referred to in clause (g) of section 2 and the form of the
certificate;
(b) the
manner in which Controller shall discharge his functions;
(c) the
manner in which a medical officer may examine a vagrant;
(d) the types of works for which a vagrant may be
reported fit;
(e) the
types of the hard labour which is to form the punishment;
(f) the manner in which an imprisonment under this
Ordinance may be served;
(g) the
manner in which a vagrant may be transferred from one welfare home to another
or to any other place of detention;
(h) the
manner in which the manager of a welfare home is to certify that satisfactory
employment has been obtained for a vagrant;
(i) the place or institutions where children
detained under this Ordinance are to be confined;
(j) the places or institutions where lepers,
lunatics and persons suffering from contagious diseases may be confined.
(3) Every rule
under this Ordinance shall be laid before the [14][14][Provincial Assembly] and may be amended or
repealed by a resolution of the said Assembly.
[1][1]This Ordinance was
promulgated by the Governor of West Pakistan on Ist Oct., 1958; published in
the West Pakistan Gazette (Extraordinary), dated Ist Oct., 1958, pages
1343-1350; saved and given permanent effect by Article 225 of the Constitution
of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (1962).
[2][2]Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974), for “West Pakistan”.
[7][7]Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974), for “West Pakistan”.
[8][8]Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974), for “West Pakistan”.
[10][10]Substituted
for the words “District Magistrate”, by the Punjab Vagrancy (Amendment) Ordinance,
2001 (XXIX of 2001, which will remain in force under the Provisional
Constitution (Amendment) Order 1999 (9 of 1999), Article 4, notwithstanding the
maximum limit of three months prescribed under Article 128 of the Constitution
of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
[12][12]The words “and the District
of Karachi”, inserted by the West Pakistan Laws (Extension to Karachi)
Ordinance, 1964 (VII of 1964), were deleted by the Punjab Laws (Adaptation)
Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974).
[13][13]The words “District
Magistrate and if such order is made by the District Magistrate, to the”
omitted by the Punjab Vagrancy (Amendment)
Ordinance, 2001 (XXIX of 2001, which will remain in force under the Provisional
Constitution (Amendment) Order 1999 (9 of 1999), Article 4, notwithstanding the
maximum limit of three months prescribed under Article 128 of the Constitution
of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
[14][14]Substituted by the Punjab
Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb. A.O. 1 of 1974), for “West Pakistan Assembly”.
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