Volume-XI, Issue-II, March 2025 |
Crime and Policing in the 19th century: A study of Crime, Colonial Police and Justice in Bengal Dipyaman Ray Chowdhury, Research Scholar, Department of History, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India |
Received: 01.02.2025 | Accepted: 21.02.2025 | Published Online: 31.03.2025 | Page No: 236-252 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.11.issue.02W.023 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
Crime in 19th century Bengal is a composite phenomenon and it is deeply connected with social, economic and political conditions. This paper explores the prevalence of various forms of crimes in Bengal such as dacoity, murder, theft, forgery, embezzlement, swindling and counterfeiting. It examines the socio-economic causes of these crimes and strategies taken by the British government to deal with the criminals. The British administration enacted several regulations at different times to curb crime and maintain law and order. But the government’s efforts to prevent crime often got hindered by corruption, systematic neglect of duty and incompetence displayed by the colonial police. Police officers often colluded with the criminals, hushed up evidences, favoured rich and denying justice to the poor. This paper also highlights the connection between famine, economic distress and increasing crime rates suggest that the colonial law enforcement could not address socio-economic grievances with much efficiency. This study argues that colonial police was largely ineffective in preventing crimes and often aggravated the law and order and security problems already faced by the common people rather than resolving it. By analysing archival records, scholarly articles, and books written by eminent historians, this article sheds light on the intersections of crime, class, caste and colonial governance in 19th century Bengal and argues that the inefficiency and corruption of colonial police was central to the persistence of crime in Bengal. Keywords: Crime, Criminals, Colonial, Bengal, British, Corruption, Police, 19th century. |