india trespass indian-penal-code blackmail
A beggar forced me to give money
<p><strong>Backstory:</strong><br />
A beggar beat (very hard) the gate of my room (a rental room in a residential building). I opened the gate and refused to give money. When I tried to close the door they forcefully entered inside my room and threatened/blackmailed me that if I don't give them money they'll remove their clothes and sit on my bed. I said it's not justified to force someone but they challenged me to call the police. They also used various vulgar words and gestures against me.</p>
<p>Other people of the building asked me to give money (that's what society makes you do). Finally I gave them money, unwillingly; though the amount was not significant.</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Points I noted</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Coercion/blackmailing for money</li>
<li>Invading my private space</li>
<li>Using vulgar words and gestures against me</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Questions</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Can someone suggest me how to deal with such coercive tactics of begging?</li>
<li>What are my options against someone invading my private space?</li>
</ul>
<p>And this isn't a simple case of beggary but it violates my fundamental rights such as rights of freedom and privacy among others.</p>

<p><strong>Can someone suggest me how to deal with such coercive tactics of begging?</strong></p>
<p>One option is to report it to the police as begging in either a public or private place in <a href="/questions/tagged/madhya-pradesh" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;madhya-pradesh&#39;" rel="tag">madhya-pradesh</a> is an arrestable offence under <a href="http://www.bareactslive.com/MP/MP102.HTM" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 4</a> of the <em>Madhya Pradesh Bhiksha Vritti Nivaran Adhiniyam, 1973</em>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>4. Power to require person found begging to appear before Court.</strong></p>
<p>(1) Any police officer or other person authorised in this behalf in accordance with rules made by the State Government may arrest without a warrant any person who is found begging...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Madhya Pradesh police have <a href="https://www.mppolice.gov.in/en/complaint-0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">on-line reporting</a> for lodging complaints. (my ability to read Hindi is very limited but that page seems relevant, if not try searching for &quot;First Information Report&quot;.)</p>

<p>I can't advise you what to do, that would be legal advice.</p>
<p>Let's look at a hypothetical situation:
An invader enters Owner's flat without the allowance of Owner by pushing aside Owner. Invader then threatens to spill the contents of a water bucket over Owner's bed and then tell the neighbors that the owner has a wet bed unless Owner gives Invader money.</p>
<p>First of all, entering that flat against Owner's wishes is not necessarily a violation of the constitution. The constitution protects before everything someone's rights against <em>the state</em>, not generally other citizens. While many rights against other citizens stem from it, citizens generally sue each other under other applicable laws that are derived from the constitution.</p>
<p>Owner's recourse against Invader stems from the ordinary law and in this case <strong>Criminal Trespass</strong>, <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1768645/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 441 of the Indian Penal Code</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Whoever enters into or upon property in the possession of another [OP] with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy any person in possession of such property, [...] is said to commit “criminal trespass”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The prescribed sentence under <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/162506/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 447</a> is imprisonment up to 3 months and/or a fine of 500 rupees.</p>
<p>The act of threatening to harm or destroy the bed is  commonly called &quot;Blackmail&quot; but the IPC defines it as <strong>criminal intimidation</strong> in <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/878688/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 503 of the IPC</a>;  the pattern of &quot;demanding money to not do something defamatory&quot; also might fit <strong>Extortion</strong> under <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/262864/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 385 of the IPC</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Criminal intimidation. — Whoever threatens another with any injury to his person, reputation or property, [...] to cause that person to do any act which he is not legally bound to do [like giving money], [...] as the means of avoiding the execution of such threat, commits criminal intim­idation.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Extortion. - Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishon­estly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property or valuable security, or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security, commits “extor­tion”. Illustrations</p>
<p>(a) A threatens to publish a defamatory libel concerning Z unless Z gives him money. He thus induces Z to give him money. A has committed extortion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, it is not robbery under <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1905008/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 390 IPC</a>, as a bucket of water over the bed is not putting Owner under fear of death. As the illustration (d) shows, it is just Extortion:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(d) A obtains property from Z by saying—“Your child is in the hands of my gang, and will be put to death unless you send us ten thousand rupees”. This is extortion, and punishable as such; but it is not robbery, unless Z is put in fear of the instant death of his child.</p>
</blockquote>
