The thinking was: People with no permanent residence are an inherent danger to civil society.
Flash forward to 1959. Bombay passes the Anti-Beggary Act which, again, criminalized artists by equating the 'pretense' of street performance with the crime of begging.
Like the colonial Criminal Tribes Act one hundred years earlier, the anti-beggary law made it possible for police to arrest so-called 'beggars' without warrant.
Delhi adopted this law in 1960, establishing ‘anti-begging squad teams’.
The courts alone then decided if detainees were in fact ‘beggars.’ A first offense could mean 1 to 3 years in prison - second-time up to 10 years.
Then, in the late 1960s,
an itinerate magician from Madhya Pradesh found a place in West Delhi where there was a little creek and some shade trees…
…and decided to give up the centuries-old wandering life…
…and settle down for good.
For reasons of survival, soon other traditional performing artists, or kalakars, came to settle too.
It all happened in phases:
First tents,
then homes of manure,
and then, finally…