Criminal Tribes Act

A Government of Bengal, CID pamphlet, on Gobinda Dom's Gang, under the Criminal Tribes Act (VI of 1924), dated 1942.
British India
Criminal Tribes Act
Date enacted	12 October 1871
Status: Repealed

The term Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) refers to various pieces of legislation enforced in India during British rule; the first enacted in 1871 as the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 applied mostly in North India. The Act was extended to Bengal Presidency and other areas in 1876, and, finally, with the Criminal Tribes Act, 1911, it was extended to Madras Presidency as well. The Act went through several amendments in the next decade and, finally, the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924 incorporated all of them.

The 1871 Act came into force with the assent of the Governor-General of India on 12 October 1871. Under the act, ethnic or social communities in India which were defined as "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences" such as thefts, were systematically registered by the government. Since they were described as 'habitually criminal', restrictions on their movements were also imposed; adult male members of such groups were forced to report weekly to the local police.

At the time of Indian independence in 1947, thirteen million people in 127 communities faced search and arrest if any member of the group was found outside the prescribed area. The Act was repealed in August 1949 and former "criminal tribes" were denotified in 1952, when the Act was replaced with the Habitual Offenders Act 1952 of Government of India, and in 1961 state governments started releasing lists of such tribes.

Today, there are 313 Nomadic Tribes and 198 Denotified Tribes of India, yet the legacy of the past continues to haunt the majority of 60 million people belonging to these tribes, especially as their historical associations have meant continued alienation and stereotyping by the police and the media as well as economic hardships. A large number of them can still only subscribe to a slightly altered label, Vimukta jaatis, or "Ex-Criminal Tribes".