Lepers Act, 1898

This is a colonial-era law from 1898 dealing with people suffering from leprosy who were destitute and begging in public, called "pauper lepers." Section 2 defines a "leper" as anyone suffering from any variety of leprosy, and a "pauper leper" as someone who publicly begs or shows sores/wounds to obtain alms, or who is at large without any visible means of support. Section 3 lets the Provincial Government designate places as "leper asylums," and Section 4 lets it appoint Inspectors of Lepers and Superintendents to run them. Section 5 requires a Board of at least three members (including one Medical Officer) for every asylum.

Section 6 allows a police officer, within any area where the Act applies, to arrest without a warrant any person who appears to be a pauper leper, and Section 7 requires that person be examined by an Inspector of Lepers, who either releases them (Form A certificate) or refers them to a Magistrate (Form B certificate). Section 8 sets out how a Magistrate decides whether the person is genuinely a pauper leper — either ordering detention in an asylum until discharged by the Board or District Magistrate, or releasing the person into the care of a friend or relative who undertakes in writing to look after them.

Section 9 lets the Provincial Government prohibit lepers, within a declared area, from selling food, drink, drugs, or clothing intended for human use, from using certain public wells or tanks, from driving public hire carriages, or from practising certain trades; disobeying such an order is punishable with a fine which may extend to twenty rupees. Section 10 allows a Magistrate to order a repeat offender to leave the area, and to send them to an asylum if they can't provide the required security. Section 11 punishes anyone who knowingly employs a leper in a prohibited trade with a fine which may extend to fifty rupees. Section 12 allows re-arrest of lepers who escape from an asylum.

Sections 13 and 14 require the Board to inspect the asylum at least every three months and allow it to order a leper's discharge. Section 15 allows an appeal against an Inspector's certification decision. Section 16 lets the Provincial Government make rules for running asylums, and Section 17 lets local authorities fund or provide land for asylums. Section 18 protects officials acting in good faith, and Section 19 (added later) extended the Act to lepers referred from former Acceding States.

This is a 19th-century colonial statute that has been amended repeatedly (the extract shows changes made in 1920, 1937, 1949, and 1985), and it reflects an outdated, stigmatizing approach to leprosy (now medically called Hansen's disease) built around arrest, segregation, and trade restrictions rather than modern public-health treatment. The fines mentioned (twenty and fifty rupees) are 1898-era amounts. Readers should check the current official text and current public-health practice before assuming any part of this Act, including its detention powers, is still actively applied.