Criminal Tribes Act - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The term Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) applies to various successive pieces of legislation enforced in India during British rule

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

; the first enacted in 1871 as Criminal Tribes Act (Act XXVII of 1871) applied mostly in North India

North India

North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...

The Act was extended to Bengal Presidency

Bengal Presidency

The Bengal Presidency originally comprising east and west Bengal, was a colonial region of the British Empire in South-Asia and beyond it. It comprised areas which are now within Bangladesh, and the present day Indian States of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Meghalaya, Orissa and Tripura.Penang and...

and other areas in 1876, and finally with the Criminal Tribes Act 1911, it was extended to Madras Presidency

Madras Presidency

The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...

as well. The Act went through several amendments in the next decade and finally the Criminal Tribes Act (VI of 1924) incorporated all of them.

The Act came into force, with the assent of the Governor-General of India

Governor-General of India

The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...

on October 12, 1871. Under the act, ethnic or social communities in India which were defined as "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offenses" such as thefts, were systematically registered by the government. Since they were described as 'habitually criminal', restrictions on their movements were also imposed; adult male members of such groups were forced to report weekly to the local police.

At the time of Indian independence in 1947, there were thirteen million people in 127 communities who faced constant surveillance, search and arrest without warrant if any member of the group was found outside the prescribed area. The Act was repealed in August 1949 and former "criminal tribes" were denotified

Denotified tribes of India

Denotified tribes , also known as vimukta jati, are the tribes that were originally listed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 , as Criminal Tribes and "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences." Once a tribe became "notified" as criminal, all its members were required to...

in 1952, when the Act was replaced with the Habitual Offenders Act 1952 of Government of India, and in 1961 state governments

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

started releasing lists of such tribes.

Today, there are 313 Nomadic Tribes

Nomadic tribes in India

The word Nomadic Tribes refers to the people who were forced to live a wandering life by the Indian Caste System. The Nomadic and Denotified Tribes consist of about 60 million in India, out of which about five million lives in Maharashtra...

and 198 Denotified tribes of India

Denotified tribes of India

, yet the legacy of the Act continues to haunt the majority of 60 million people belonging to these tribes, especially as their notification over a century ago has meant not just alienation and stereotyping by the police and the media, but also economic hardships. A large number of them can still only subscribe to a slightly altered label, "Vimukta jaatis" or the Ex-Criminal Tribes.

Reasons

Though ostensibly the law was created to bring into account groups like the Thugs which were successfully tackled in previous decades, and give the authorities better means to tackle the menace of 'professional criminals', many scholars believe, however, that this was also done due to their participation in the revolt of 1857, and many tribal chiefs were labeled traitors and caused constant trouble to the authorities through their frequent acts of rebellion.

Some historians, like David Arnold, have suggested that it so happened because many of these tribes were simply small communities of low-caste and nomadic people living on the fringes of the society upon rudimentary subsistence, often wandering to survive as petty traders, pastoralists, gypsies, hill and forest dwelling tribes, which did not conform to the British colonial idea of civilized living, of settled agriculture and waged labour. The trouble came, however, when criminality or professional criminal behaviour was taken to be hereditary rather than habitual, that is when crime became ethnic, and what was merely social determinism

Social determinism

Social determinism is the hypothesis that social interactions and constructs alone determine individual behavior ....

till then became biological determinism

Biological determinism

Biological determination is the interpretation of humans and human life from a strictly biological point of view, and it is closely related to genetic determinism...

.

This shift in notion seems to have arisen out of the prevalent belief in 19th century Europe that peripatetic

Nomad

Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...

lifestyles usually meant a menace to the society, hence termed as 'dangerous classes' and best kept under control or at least surveillance. Elsewhere the concept of reformatory schools for such people had already been initiated by mid-19th century by social reformers

Moreover, India posed a unique problem to the colonialists as demarcation between wandering criminal tribes (Thugs, vagrants

Vagrancy (people)

A vagrant is a person in poverty, who wanders from place to place without a home or regular employment or income.-Definition:A vagrant is "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging;" vagrancy is the condition of such persons.-History:In...

, itinerant

Itinerant

An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home. The term comes from the late 16th century: from late Latin itinerant , from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner ....

s, travelling tradesmen, nomads and gypsies) seemed impossible, so they were all, even eunuchs (hijras

Hijra (South Asia)

In the culture of South Asia, hijras or chakka in Kannada, khusra in Punjabi and kojja in Telugu are physiological males who have feminine gender identity, women's clothing and other feminine gender roles. Hijras have a long recorded history in the Indian subcontinent, from the antiquity, as...

), grouped together, and their subsequent generations were merely a "law and order problem" for the state

History

The idea of Thuggee
Thuggee
Thuggee is the term for a particular kind of murder and robbery of travellers in South Asia and particularly in India.They are sometimes called Phansigar i.e...

s, who were known for murdering and robbing travellers in caravan

Caravan (travellers)

A caravan is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition. Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, where traveling in groups aided in defence against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade.In historical times, caravans...

s, had started around the 17th century and had reached significant proportions by the time the British established themselves in India. As the death toll rose, so did the myths and legend around them, so much so that they became part of British lexicon, and popular culture with novels such as Confessions of a Thug
Confessions of a Thug (novel)
Confessions of a Thug is an English novel written by Philip Meadows Taylor in 1839 based on the Thuggee cult in British India. Ameer Ali, the anti-hero protagonist of Confessions of a Thug, was said to be based on a real Thug called Syeed Amir Ali , whom the author was acquainted with.Confessions...

(1839). In 1835, the British colonialists established the Thuggee and Dacoity Department to address the issue, with William Sleeman as its first Superintendent. Sleeman's title was changed to Commissioner in 1839, when the suppression of Thugs came into full force. The department consisted of around 120 people, who captured around 3000 thugs, of whom 466 were hanged, 1564 transported and 933 imprisoned for life. By the 1850s, the Thugs were mostly eradicated and the British determined to use similar methods to tackle other issues on a nationwide scale. They identified groups deemed to be dangerous and eventually introduced the Criminal Tribes Act.

When the Bill was introduced in 1871 by jurist James Fitzjames Stephen

James Fitzjames Stephen

Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, 1st Baronet was an English lawyer, judge and writer. He was created 1st Baronet Stephen by Queen Victoria.-Early life:...

, who also formulated the Indian Evidence Act 1872

Indian Evidence Act

The Indian Evidence Act, originally passed by the British parliament in 1872, contains a set of rules and allied issues governing admissibility of any evidence in the Indian courts of law. Before Indian Evidence Act,India was subjected to Personal Laws as correctly may be said that of Muslims and...

, stress was laid on various ethnological theories of caste which linked profession, upbringing and background, as he noted, "… people from time immemorial have been pursuing the caste system defined job-positions: weaving, carpentry and such were hereditary jobs. So there must have been hereditary criminals also who pursued their forefathers’ profession.". On another occasion defining his theory he had commented, "When we speak of professional criminals, we...(mean) a tribe whose ancestors were criminals from time immemorial, who are themselves destined by the usage of caste to commit crime, and whose descendants will be offenders against the law, until the whole tribe is exterminated or accounts for in manner of thugs". The measure was a part of a wider attempt at social engineering

Social engineering

Social engineering may refer to:* Social engineering , efforts to influence society on a large scale* Social engineering , the practice of obtaining confidential information by manipulating and/or deceiving people....

which saw, for example, the categorisation of castes as being "agricultural" or "martial" as a means of facilitating the distribution of property or recognising which groups were loyal to the colonial government and therefore suitable for military recruitment, respectively.

The British government was able to summon a large amount of public support, including the nationalist press, for the excesses committed on such communities. This is because the Criminal Tribes Act was posed widely as a social reform measure which reformed criminals through work. However, when they tried to make a living like everybody else, they did not find work outside the settlement because of public prejudice and ostracisation. The situation has continued to this day.

The tribes "notified" under the Act were labelled as Criminal Tribes for their so-called "criminal tendencies". As a result anyone born in these approximately 160 communities across the country was presumed as a "born criminal", irrespective of their criminal precedents. This gave the police sweeping powers to arrest them, control them, and monitor their movements. Once a tribe was officially notified, its members had no recourse to repeal such notices under the judicial system. From then on, their movements were monitored through a system of compulsory registration and passes, which specified where the holders could travel and reside, and district magistrates were required to maintain records of all such people

An inquiry was set up in 1883, to investigate the need for extending the Act to the rest of India, and received an affirmative response. 1897 saw another amendment to the Act, wherein local governments were empowered to establish separate "reformatory" settlements, for tribal boys from age four to eighteen years, away from their parents.

Eventually, in 1911, it was enacted in Madras Presidency

Madras Presidency

The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...

as well, bringing entire India into the jurisdiction of this law , in 1908, special ‘settlements’ were constructed for the notified tribes where they had to perform hard labour. With subsequent amendments to the Act, punitive penalties were increased, and fingerprinting of all members of the criminal tribe was made compulsory, such tight control according to many scholars was placed to ensure that no future revolts could take place .

Many of the tribes were "settled" in villages under the police guard, whose job was to ensure that no registered member of the tribe was absent with notice. Also imposition of punitive

Punishment

Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....

police posts on the villages with history of "misconduct" was also common .

In the coming decades, as a fallout of this act, a large section of the these notified tribes took up nomadic existence, living on the fringes of the society.

In 1936, Nehru denouncing the Act commented, "The monstrous provisions of the Criminal Tribes Act constitute a negation of civil liberty. No tribe [can] be classed as criminal as such and the whole principle [is] out of consonance with all civilised principles."

Post-independence reforms

In January 1947, Government of Bombay set up a committee which included B.G. Kher, then Chief Minister Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai

Morarji Ranchhodji Desai was an Indian independence activist and the fourth Prime Minister of India from 1977–79. He was the first Indian Prime Minister who did not belong to the Indian National Congress...

, and Gulzarilal Nanda

Gulzarilal Nanda

Gulzarilal Nanda was an Indian politician and an economist with specialization in labour problems. He was the interim Prime Minister of India twice for thirteen days each: the first time after the death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, and the second time after the death of Prime...

to look into the matter of 'criminal tribes', this set into motion the final repeal of the Act in August 1949, which resulted in 2,300,000 tribals were being decriminalized.

Post independence, the Act was ultimately repealed, first in Madras Province in 1949 as the result of struggles led by Communist leaders such as P. Ramamurthi

P. Ramamurthi

P. Ramamurti was an Indian politician and a politburo member of the Communist Party of India .Ramamurti was born in Chennai to Panchapakesan, a Sanskrit scholar. He obtained his education from Hindu High School, Presidency College, Madras and the Banaras Hindu University...

and P. Jeevanandam, and Forward Bloc leader U. Muthuramalingam Thevar

U. Muthuramalingam Thevar

Ukkirapandi MuthuramalingaThevar , also known as Pasumpon Muthuramalingam Thevar, was an Indian politician. He hailed from the Maravar community, the dominant warrior caste group in his home district in southern Tamil Nadu...

, who had led many agitations in the villages starting 1929, urging the people to defy the CTA, as result the number of tribes under CTA was reduced. Other provincial governments soon followed suit.

Subsequently, the Committee appointed in the same year by the Central government, to study the utility of the existence of this law, reported in 1950 that the system violated the spirit of the Indian constitution. The Habitual Offenders Act (HOA) (1952) was enacted in the place of CTA, which states that an habitual offender is one who has been a victim of subjective and objective influences and has manifested a set practice in crime, and also presents a danger to society, though effectively re-stigmatized the already marginalized "criminal tribes". Since the stigma continues around the previously criminalized tribes, because of the ineffective nature of the new Act, which in effect meant relisting of the supposed Denotified tribes

Denotified tribes of India

, and today the social category generally known as the denotified

Denotified tribes of India

and nomadic tribes

Nomadic tribes in India

of India has a population of approximately 60 million in India.

However many these denotified tribes continued to carry considerable social stigma of the Act and come under the purview of the 'Prevention of Anti-Social Activity Act' (PASA). Many of them have been denied the status of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) or Other Backward Classes (OBC), which would have allowed them avail Reservation

Reservation in India

Reservation in India is a form of affirmative action designed to improve the well being of socially backward and underrepresented communities of citizens in India. There are laws in place, wherein a certain percentage of total available slots in Jobs and Education are set aside for people from...

under Indian law

Indian law

Law of India refers to the system of law in modern India. It is largely based on English common law because of the long period of British colonial influence during the period of the British Raj. Much of contemporary Indian law shows substantial European and American influence. Various legislation...

, which reserves seats for them in government jobs and educational institutions, thus most of them are still living below poverty line

Below Poverty Line

Below Poverty Line is an economic benchmark and poverty threshold used by the government of India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify individuals and households in need of government assistance and aid. It is determined using various parameters which vary from state to state and...

and sub-human condition Over the course of the century since its passing, the criminal identity attached to certain tribes by the Act, was internalized not just by the society, but also by the police, whose official methodology, even after repeal of the Act, often reflected the characteristics of manifestation of an era initiated by the Act, a century ago, where characteristic of crimes committed by certain tribes were closely watched, studied and documented.

National Human Rights Commission, in February, 2000 recommended repeal of the Habitual Offenders Act, 1952. Later in March 2007, the UN’s anti-discrimination body Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), noted that “the so-called denotified and nomadic which are listed for their alleged ‘criminal tendencies’ under the former Criminal Tribes Act (1871), continue to be stigmatized under the Habitual Offenders Act (1952) (art. 2 (1)), and asked India to repeal the Habitual Offenders Act (1952) and effectively rehabilitate the denotified and nomadic tribes. According to the body, since much of 'Habitual Offenders Act (1952)' is derived from the earlier 'Criminal Tribes Act 1871', it doesn't show a marked departure in its intent, only gives the formed notified tribes a new name i.e. Denotified tribes, hence the stigma continues so does the oppression, as the law is being denounced on two counts, first that "all human beings are born free and equal

All men are created equal

The quotation "All men are created equal" has been called an "immortal declaration", and "perhaps" the single phrase of the United States Revolutionary period with the greatest "continuing importance". Thomas Jefferson first used the phrase in the Declaration of Independence as a rebuttal to the...

", and second that it negates a valuable principle of the criminal justice system – innocent until proven guilty.

In 2008, the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes

National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes

The National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes is a national commission set under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, to study various developmental aspects of denotified and nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes in India.The Commission was first was...

(NCDNSNT) of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment recommended that same reservations as available to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes be extended to around 11 crore people of denotified, nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes in India; the commission further recommended that the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989

The Scheduled Castes and Tribes Act, 1989 was enacted by the Parliament of India, in order to prevent atrocities against Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes...

be applicable to these tribes also. Today, many governmental and non-governmental bodies are involved in the betterment of these denotified tribes through various schemes and educational programs.

Former notified tribes under the Act

Many of these tribes are present in both India and Pakistan.

Name	Regions
Badhak	Rajasthan Rajasthan Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
Baghir	Rajasthan Rajasthan Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
Baloch	Rajasthan
Banjara Banjara The Banjara are a class of usually described as nomadic people from the Indian state of Rajasthan, North-West Gujarat, and Western Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Sindh province of pre-independence Pakistan... s	Rajasthan, Punjab
Baoris	Rajasthan, Punjab
Baurias	Rajasthan, Punjab
Bawarias	Rajasthan, Punjab
Chhara	Chharanagar, Gujarat
Dhekaros	Bhirbhum, West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
Dhikaru	West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
Hurs Hurs Hur is a Sufi Muslim community in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Their spiritual leader is Pir Pagaro.- History of the Hur Movement:...	Pakistan
Kanjar Kanjar Kanjar is a traditionally nomadic community resident in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and parts of Uttar Pradesh in India. The community is also known by the names of Nath, Banchra, Marwari Kumar, and Bhantu. They are reputed to have made a living by kidnapping, theft, prostitution,...	Rajasthan
Korachas	Tamil Nadu
Kurava	Tamil Nadu, Kerala
Lambadis	Andhra Pradesh
Lodha Lodha There are a large number of Indians in this world with the title Lodha. There is no unique origin for all these people. Some Lodhas are members of a caste called Oswal. It is a social group of people from the Indian States of Rajasthan. Oswals are mainly Jain following the Swetambara tradition,...	West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
Mahtam Mahtam Mahatams are a clan found among Punjabis of India and Pakistan . They are Hindus as well as Muslims, and in the 1920s the former were mainly cultivators and the latter were clearers of the jungle....	Rajasthan, Punjab
Meenas Meenas Meenas, Meena, Meenoat or Mina is a caste and community mainly found in Rajasthan, India. The name Mina is derived from Meen,meaning 'fish' in Sanskrit, and the Minas claim descent from the Matsya Avatar, or fish incarnation, of Vishnu.Meenas celebrate Meenesh Jayanti in the name of Vishnu on 3...	Rajasthan
Nat	Bihar Bihar Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
Sabar Sabar (people) The Sabar people are one of the scheduled tribes in India who live mainly in Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal...	West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
Sansi (nomadic Nomadic tribes in India The word Nomadic Tribes refers to the people who were forced to live a wandering life by the Indian Caste System. The Nomadic and Denotified Tribes consist of about 60 million in India, out of which about five million lives in Maharashtra... )	Rajasthan Rajasthan Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with... , Punjab
Phase Pardhi Phase Pardhi Phase Pardhi or Phasse Pardhi are a tribe in India. The tribe often faces harassment by Indian law enforcement agencies. The tribe is found mostly in Maharashtra and parts of Madhya Pradesh. The Phasse are a sub tribe of the Pardhi caste, which includes sub-castes like Gav-Paradhi, Berad-Paradhi,...	Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India... , Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
Mukkulathor Mukkulathor The Mukkulathor community is native to the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, India. The name "Mukkulathor" alludes to the three roughly designated groups and which make up this large endogamous social group...	Tamilnadu
Vaghari	Gujarat
Yerukala Yerukala Yerukala, Yerukula, Erukala, Erukula, or Kurru is a community found largely in the Southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Yerukalas are indigenous people of South India. They call themselves ‘Kurru’. They are called as ‘Yerukula’ in Andhra Pradesh after their women’s...	Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka

In films

At least two short films have made on the situation of denotified tribes in India, first "Mahasweta Devi: Witness, Advocate, Writer" (2001) by Shashwati Talukdar, a film on the life and works of social activist and Magsaysay Award winner, Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activist and writer.- Biography :Mahasweta Devi was born in 1926 in Dhaka, to literary parents in a Hindu Brahmin family. Her father Manish Ghatak was a well known poet and novelist of the Kallol era, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa...

, who has been working for tribes for over three decades. Second, "Acting Like a Thief" (2005) by P. Kerim Friedman & Shashwati Talukdar, about a Chhara tribal theatre group in Ahmedabad, India. The 2007 National Film Award

National Film Awards

The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...

-winning Tamil feature film, "Paruthi Veeran" also documents the scenarios and mindsets left behind by the Act in rural Tamilnadu

External links

National Commission for denotified, Nomadic & Semi-nomadic Tribes, Official website Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Text of Criminal Tribes Act 1871 at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Reasons

History

Post-independence reforms

Former notified tribes under the Act

In films

Further reading

External links