6. Any police officer authorised in this behalf by the District Magistrate ¹[and, in ²[a Metropolitan Area], by the Police Commissioner] may require any person who is apparently a vagrant to accompany him or any other police officer to, and to appear before, a Special Magistrate.

7. (1) When a person is brought before a Special Magistrate under section 6, such Special Magistrate shall make a summary inquiry in the prescribed manner into the circumstances and character of such person, and if, after hearing anything which such person may wish to say he is satisfied that such person is a vagrant, he shall record a declaration to this effect and the provisions of this Act relating to vagrants shall thereupon apply to such person. (2) If on making the summary inquiry referred to in sub-section (1) the Special Magistrate is not satisfied that the person brought before him under section 6 is a vagrant such person shall forthwith be released. (3) A Special Magistrate recording a declaration under sub-section (1) that a person is a vagrant shall forthwith send a certified copy of such declaration to the Controller, and to the officer-in-charge of the receiving centre to which such vagrant is sent under sub-section (1) of section 8.

8. (1) When a person has been declared to be a vagrant under sub-section (1) of section 7 he shall forthwith be sent in the manner prescribed to the nearest receiving centre and there handed over to the custody of the officer-in-charge of such receiving centre, and such vagrant shall be detained in such receiving centre until he is sent therefrom to a vagrants' home under sub-section (1) of section 9. (2) As soon as possible after the commencement of the detention of a vagrant in a receiving centre the medical officer of such receiving centre shall with such medical help as may be necessary medically examine the vagrant in the manner prescribed as quickly as is consistent with the circumstances of the case and shall thereupon furnish the officer-in-charge of the receiving centre with a medical report regarding the health and bodily condition of the vagrant. (3) The medical report referred to in sub-section (2) shall state inter alia,- (a) the sex and age of the vagrant;(b) whether the vagrant is a leper;(c) from what, if any, communicable diseases other than leprosy the vagrant is suffering;(d) whether the vagrant is insane or mentally deficient;(e) what is the general state of health and bodily condition of the vagrant and for which, if any, of the prescribed types of work he is fit.

9. (1) On receipt of the medical report referred to in sub-section (2) of section 8 the officer-in-charge of a receiving centre shall, as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made, send the vagrant in the prescribed manner to such vagrants' home as the Controller may by general or special order in this behalf direct, and the said officer-in-charge shall along with such vagrant send to the Manager of the said vagrants' home,-(a) the certified copy of the declaration made under sub-section (1) of section 7 relating to such vagrant which is to be sent to such officer-in-charge under sub-section (3) of the said section, and(b) the said medical report. (2) When a vagrant is sent to a vagrants' home under the provisions of sub-section (1) he shall be handed over to the custody of the Manager of such vagrants' home and shall be detained therein, or in a vagrants' home to which he may be transferred under section 16, until duly discharged therefrom under section 18. (3) In issuing any order under sub-section (1) the Controller shall ensure that the following classes of vagrants, namely,-(a) lepers,(b) the insane or mentally deficient,(c) those suffering from communicable diseases other than leprosy,(d) children,are segregated from each other and from vagrants who do not belong to any of the aforementioned classes and shall also ensure that the male vagrants are segregated from the female vagrants: Provided that the provisions of this sub-section in respect of children may be relaxed as prescribed.

10. (1) If after an inquiry made under sub-section (1) of section 7 the Special Magistrate is satisfied that the person brought before him under section 6 is a vagrant but, in the course of such inquiry, it has appeared that the vagrant was not born in the area in which this Act is in force or has not been continuously resident therein for more than one year, the Special Magistrate, after making such further inquiry, if any, as he may deem necessary, may by order in writing direct the said vagrant to leave the said area within such time and by such route or routes as may be stated in the order and not to return thereto without the permission in writing of the Controller, and in such case, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) of section 7, the provisions of sections 8 and 9 shall not apply to such vagrant: Provided that if the Special Magistrate deems it necessary to make any further inquiry as aforesaid in respect of such vagrant, the vagrant shall be detained pending conclusion of the said inquiry in such receiving centre as the Controller may by general or special order in this behalf direct and for this purpose shall be sent thereto in the manner prescribed and there handed over to the custody of the officer-in-charge of such receiving centre, and shall, while he is so detained, be subject to the rules of management and discipline referred to in sub-section (1) of section 15. (2) The Controller shall not give the permission referred to in sub-section (1) unless, if the vagrant had been detained in a vagrants' home, such vagrant would have been eligible to have been discharged therefrom under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 18. (3) When a vagrant against whom an order has been made under sub-section (1) fails to comply with such order within the time specified therein, or after complying with the said order returns without the permission in writing of the Controller to any place within the area referred to in the said order, such vagrant may be arrested without a warrant by any police officer, and shall be liable, on conviction before a Magistrate, to be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months.

11. A declaration that a person is a vagrant recorded by a Special Magistrate under sub-section (1) of section 7 shall be sufficient authority to any person to retain such vagrant in his custody when such person is under the provisions of this Act or of any rule made thereunder conveying a vagrant from the Court of a Special Magistrate to a receiving centre or, from a receiving centre to a vagrants' home or from one vagrants' home to another and to the officer-in-charge of a receiving centre and to the Manager of a vagrants' home for detaining such vagrant in accordance with the provisions of this Act in a receiving centre or vagrants' home, as the case may be.