Open letter to SC Justice BR Gavai: Homeless people are most dispossessed citizens, not parasites

Respected Justice BR Gavai,

It is with respect but utmost dismay I feel compelled to respond to your remarks while hearing the civil writ petitions pertaining to provision of adequate shelter facilities to homeless persons, on 12 February 2025.

And since this concerns the lives (and possible deaths) of masses of our most destitute and dispossessed citizens in cities and towns across the country, I feel persuaded to place this letter in the public domain.

My letter relates to your observations to the counsels, “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 nation?” (as reported by the legal news portal Live Law).

In this letter, I will respond particularly to two words in your comments. One of these is “parasites”. The other is “freebies”.

I write because India’s Supreme Court is the highest forum to which citizens of India may turn, in their last resort for justice and the defence of their constitutional rights. For citizens who suffer comprehensive daily violations…

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