Denotified Tribes in India.

The Denotified Tribes, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes (DNT-NTs) in India are an "invisible" section in our society.

In 1871, the British enacted a law called the Criminal Tribes Act which notified certain tribes as criminal. The Act attributed criminality to these tribes, mostly nomadic and semi nomadic in nature like the Banjaras, Bawariyas. Lodhas, Pardhis and many more, based on their birth into a certain group/ tribe.

This Act was repealed in 1952 and these tribes were denotified. But the Habitual Offenders Acts were enacted in various states. The new Act did away with the concept of collective criminality and tried to individualise guilt on paper but the legacy of discrimination and abuse continues.

They are not recognised as citizens of India, no schemes of the government apply to them and they do not find employment as they are stigmatised as criminals in society. They have lost their traditional forms of livelihood in this modern age and have no source of income.

They face police atrocities on a regular basis and they are not allowed to settle anywhere for a long time. The police still refer to them as criminals and treat them likewise.

They have been unable to organise themselves unlike the Dalits and do not even have a so called political constituency. They truly form the lowest rung of the social hierarchy and do not enjoy the basic human rights and constitutional guarantees.

The media also plays a significant role in perpetuating the bias against these marginalised people. The society is complicit in denying them their basic rights and freedoms. They are accused of a crime merely because of their physical proximity to the scene of crime or the manner in which a crime was committed. To quote from a news report on this, "Thieves were definitely Phase Pardhis. Here’s why...According to the boys, the attempt had all the traits of a typical Phase Pardhi robbery. All except one robber was bare-chested at the time of the theft and all were wearing shorts. They had brought well-rounded stones to use as weapons (There are no stones in the society compound since it is a completely concreted surface). The boys also say that the men managed to scale the 12-feet compound wall in a remarkably short time while they were running away from them." (Anthony, Hepzi. “Boys Prevent Theft at Veera Desai Road.” Mid-Day, April 10th, 2003)

The description will reveal that the same crime could be committed by anyone. The pre conceived notions of the DNT-NTs being nimble footed, nimbled fingered, tall and strong are rampant in society.

For more information on this subject, you can read Dr. Meena Radhakrishna's book "Dishonoured by History" on the Criminal Tribes Act and Dilip D'Souza's book "Branded by Law" and a short article at http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF101.htm