Research on tribes dubbed criminal by British

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, April 25

The Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) is planning to launch research on the Indian tribes that were labelled criminal by the British. A research chair will also be established for the purpose under which researchers, who want to carry out research on tribes of India, would be provided support by the university.

Vice-Chancellor of CUHP Kuldeep Agnihotri, in an interview with The Tribune, said that research chair was likely to be set up in the first week of the next month.

He further said that many tribes of India that resisted the British were labelled criminal tribes. In Punjab Sansi Tribe was labelled a criminal tribe by the British in the IPC. The Sansi tribe once ruled over old Punjab. In fact, Maharaja Ranjit Singh was also a Sansi. The British failed to control the Sansi tribe even after the Anglo-Sikh war in 1847. The Sansis continued to give tough resistance to British in Punjab due to which the British labelled them as a criminal tribe. By labelling them as a criminal tribe the British deprived the Sansis from owning land or educating their children. Ironically, the criminal status given to Sansis by the British continued for decades even in free India, the VC said.

He further said that in North East also some tribes were labelled head hunters by the British. The tribes were labelled so as they resisted the efforts of the British to convert them to Christianity and killed a few priests who spoke against their traditional beliefs. The tribe labelled as head hunters were deprived of education and rights to own lands.

In Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh also some tribes were labelled as criminal tribes. These tribes were still living in abject poverty and have not got the opportunity to progress as most of time the perceptions created by the British regarding them were still being carried along by the society they live in, he said.

“We are planning a research project in which historical and anthropological aspects of these martial tribes of India that were labelled as criminal by the British can be brought forward” he pointed out.

“In the research project we shall try to document the culture, belief and folk history of these tribes. Since hardly any work has been done to document the history, culture and beliefs of these tribes in past it is likely to be the first endeavour of its kind. We hope that it would also give the tribes like Sansis their due in the history of India,” the VC said.

He said the CUHP had already started a course in Gojari language of Gujjar tribe. “In this course we are promoting research for preserving the Gojari language. The language was getting lost with urbanization of Gujjars. We are also trying to document the culture, lifestyle and folklores of Gujjars,” the VC said.