Remembering Statutory Injustice Against Nomadic Tribes

The 71st Tribal Liberation Day is a day for celebration, but also an occasion for the country to reckon with the tragic living legacy left behind by the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871.

August 31st marks the 71st Tribal Liberation Day, or the day that tribes notified as “criminal tribes” by the colonial government were “denotified” by the independent government in 1952 under the leadership of PM Nehru. Today is a day to remember their history but also recognize how this history continues to live on, and what the future needs to hold for those burdened by it. This blog post briefly touches upon the origins of the issue, what has happened since Independence and what we can do next.

History of the law

In 1871, the British government classified certain, mainly nomadic, tribes under the Criminal Tribes Act, which described these tribes as “addicted to systematic commission of non-bailable offences.” Some of these Denotified Tribes or Communities (DNT-DNC) include the Maravars, Yerukulas, Banjaras, Lambadas, and so on. The theory was that there were certain tribes whose very profession was to engage in crime. In effect, they were viewed as being “born criminals.”

Nomadic tribes have, from time immemorial, been subject to suspicion by settled, agrarian societies, who did not take well to their constant movement. In India, social communities considered them as aimless and evading hard work, although they were engaged in trade. The lack of caste and patriarchal practices among them also brought them a reputation for being immoral. For the ruling classes, the impossibility of taxing, as well as the loose definition of private property among these itinerant groups (Radhakrishna 2000). was frustrating. Still, it was not until the colonial regime came into power that they became systematically subjugated.

The Criminal Tribes Act empowered local governments with sweeping jurisdiction in dealing with these tribes. In continuation with previous practices, any crime in the vicinity of a CTA member would be blamed on them, and their proximity would be taken as enough evidence. In addition, the colonial administration began to surveil heavily, even keeping records on individuals. Police would arbitrarily raid their houses, remove custody of children, and curb their movement.

Meena Radhakrishna writes that ‘knowledge’ about them was derived from landlord classes, Brahmins, and other upper castes. Hence, state treatment was not aloof from social hierarchy, but reflected a casteist bias (Radhakrishna 2000).

However, their alleged proclivity to resort to crime was not statistically sound. In the Madras Presidency, where CTA was extended in 1911, the proportion of CTs in the criminal population remained below their proportion in the general population.

Legislation since then:

When the Criminal Tribes Act was repealed, there were as many as 150 million people who belonged to DNT-DNCs.

The act’s abrogation, however, was inadequate in protecting itinerant community members. The same cohort was targeted under a myriad of other laws like the Beggary Act, Forest Act, Arms Act, and Goonda Act. Furthermore, the Habitual Offender’s Act was passed in 1952, although it shifted the burden from communities to individuals (Radhakrishna 2000).

Persisting Problems:

To this day, members of DNC-DNT face excessive persecution at the hands of law enforcement and police. To put it briefly, it is blamed on them whenever a crime is committed, which is also an easy way to close cases.

A report on the Kuravars in Tamil Nadu revealed that almost every member of the community has an average of five cases slapped on them (Muralidharan 2020). Others have said there are no young men in the community who do not have more than a dozen cases on them. Many of these cases are acquitted by the courts but delay in due process usually means many spend years in jail for crimes they did not commit.

Furthermore, they are also subject to brutal and often arbitrary torture in police stations. An NCSC report on Kuravar women also discussed sexual violence in police custody (Roy 2021). Many children from these communities also drop out of school, unable to bear the shame and humiliation. They face routine discrimination from teachers and fellow students. A child counsellor who has worked with children from DNC-DNT communities also said they are often ‘mature’ for their age, given how much trauma they experience from a young age.

What is Needed Now?

A National Commission for De-notified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) appointed in 2006 concluded that these tribes had not received the attention that Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes did. A portion of DNT-DNCs are in the scheduled category, but not all. Out of 1,262, 269 DNTs are not covered by the reservation. A committee in 2018 suggested a permanent commission for these communities. In 2019, the Anthropological Survey of India, with a budget of Rs 2.26 crore, began conducting ethnographic surveys so the missing groups could be brought under reservation. However, the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment in 2023 also expressed dismay that the budgetary allocation for the welfare of these groups has been cut from Rs 50 crore to Rs 28 crore from 2021-22 to 2022-23 budget (Yadav 2022).

The government has taken some steps to rectify the plight of DNT-DNCs. In 2022, the Centre launched an umbrella initiative to offer free coaching services, health services, housing and set up an employment mission to aid these families (PTI 2022).

Discrimination faced by these communities is beyond caste or class. It is written in law such that the state never appears as their protector but is instead intent on criminalizing and persecuting them. What is needed, therefore, is a systematic change in the way police treat them, which would require that checks on arbitrary and illegal use of violence be adequately checked.

References:

1. PTI. “Govt Launches Scheme for De-Notified & Nomadic Tribes in Education, Housing, Health Sectors.” ThePrint, theprint, 16 Feb. 2022, theprint.in/india/govt-launches-scheme-for-de-notified-nomadic-tribes-in-education-housing-health-sectors/834332/. Accessed 28 Aug. 2023.
2. “For the Kuravars of Tamil Nadu, Custodial Violence Is a Way of Life. And Death.” The Wire, 2018, thewire.in/caste/for-the-kuravars-of-tamil-nadu-custodial-violence-is-a-way-of-life-and-death. Accessed 28 Aug. 2023.
3. “Creators, Not “Criminals”: Children of Denotified Kuravar Tribe Speak through Art.” The Wire, 2018, thewire.in/rights/creators-not-criminals-children-of-denotified-kuravar-tribe-speak-through-art. Accessed 28 Aug. 2023.
4. Yadav, Shyamlal. “Explained: State of Denotified Tribes, and Why House Panel Is Critical about a Programme for Their Development.” The Indian Express, The Indian Express, 5 Apr. 2022, indianexpress.com/article/explained/state-of-denotified-tribes-house-panel-development-programme-7854312/. Accessed 28 Aug. 2023.
5. Uttar, in. “Criminalisation and Political Mobilisation of Nomadic Tribes in Uttar Pradesh.” Economic and Political Weekly, 31 Aug. 2021, www.epw.in/engage/article/criminalisation-and-political-mobilisation-nomadic. Accessed 28 Aug. 2023.