In Episode 9 of the DAKSH Podcast we discussed “de-notified tribes” or “vimukta” communities and what they show us about policing culture in India. They are communities that were notified under a colonial legislation - the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 - as people who, by birth, are "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences." Though this Act was repealed after India gained independence, discretionary powers of the police coupled with social stigmas of the judiciary continue to haunt these communities, many of whom are subject to oppression, surveillance and imprisonment, sometimes without even being convicted by a court of law. We talked to Nikita Sonavane, co-founder of the Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project in Madhya Pradesh about her work with these communities, the origin of the idea that some people can be labelled criminals by birth and how this prejudice and injustice lives on in the India of today. More importantly, Nikita asks some crucial questions about our tendency to look to the police for solutions to problems that have little to do with law and order. In the wake of the pandemic we are experiencing, she dares us to reimagine legal and policy responses to public crises rather than let only some marginalised groups take the fall. 

Reading list:

1. Ameya Bokil & Nikita Sonavane, Why Charan Singh Bolts His House From Inside And Out https://www.article-14.com/post/why-charan-singh-bolts-his-house-from-inside-and-out-before-he-sleeps

2. Milind Bokil and Vijay Raghavan. "Women and Children as Victims and Offenders: The Case of De-Notified Tribes in India." Women and Children as Victims and Offenders: Background, Prevention, Reintegration. Springer, Cham, 2016

3. Nikita Sonavane and Ameya Bokil, Condemned without Trial - India’s undertrials problem is spurring the COVID-19 outbreak in prisons https://caravanmagazine.in/law/india-undertrials-problem-spurring-covid-19-outbreak-prisons

4. Nikita Sonavane and Ameya Bokil, How Poverty-Struck Tribals Become ‘Habitual Offenders’ https://www.article-14.com/post/born-a-criminal-how-poverty-struck-tribals-become-habitual-offenders

5. Bangalore International Centre Masterclass by G N Devy on Denotified Tribes https://youtu.be/4rG6IzxGOHM

CREDITS:

Host: Anindita Pattanayak

This is a Maed in India production.

Production Head & Editor: Joshua Thomas

Sound Mixing: Kartik Kulkarni

Project Supervisor: Shaun Fanthome