Check your progress
In India. Night shelters are not available for more than
It is estimated that there are about three million urbane
cent of this population. Hundreds of these old, sick hm
people are killed by cold wave during winter. They can
ration and voting cards in the absence of any proof of resmi
Without these documents they also cannot avail gover
help as needy patients. A large number of these homeless
are casual workers, who earn very low wages. Theyts
the city in search of work from different parts of the com
Use these facts to write a petition to the Supreme Ca
India under the Right to Constitutional Remedies. Your
should mention:
a. What Fundamental Rights are being denied to the hom
in their everyday life?
b. What kind of order would you request the Supreme
to issue?
Answers
Answer:
a. Basic Human Rights are denied to homeless persons. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
In an attempt to “manage” (i.e. limit) the homeless, Santa Barbara is on the cutting edge of violating their basic human rights to life. They have legislated laws directed at the homeless to be used for “selective enforcement.” They have three ordinances which are evoked by the act of a person falling asleep. It is illegal to fall asleep in a parked vehicle, a park, or the beach.
The must basic human right must be to allow someone to live a harmless life. What more harmless act can a person undertake but to sleep? (Forgetting about the operation of heavy machinery, please.)
The essential ingredients to life must include eating, sleeping, defecating and moving about. I brought this issue before the city council, challenging the legitimacy and humanity of these ordinances (my docket to challenge the council was neither the first, nor was it the last.) There was a TV camera and dozens of homeless present to speak and support the challenge but in the end, the council’s decision: “These laws are working for us.”
b. The Supreme Court can issue writs only in relation to the violation of a fundamental right. There are five kinds of writs: quo warranto, habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition and certiorari