Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s13: 17. Criminal Tribes

Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s13

Language: English

17. Criminal Tribes

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The peace of the country was generally disturbed by Bhils and Kolis living a semi-independent and altogether uncivilised life in the hills and jungles. Complete subjugation of these hill tribes was impossible. Hence their chiefs were held responsible for any theft and disturbance committed by them. For the Police duties performed by the Bhil Naiks, they were permitted by the government to levy certain customary dues or *Haks*. So successful was this Police arrangement that inspite of its evident theoretical defects, Elphinstone recommended its continuance in the early days of the British administration in the Bombay Presidency.

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When there was any unusual outbreak of theft and robbery, an additional force from the local Shibandi or the neighbouring forts was sent to help the local police. A force of 101 Rohila *Gardis* was sent in 1782-83 to help the Kamavisdar of Nasik, because thefts and dacoities had increased there.¹³ The expenses of these additional police force were met by a house-tax payable by everybody including Brahmans, but the poor were generally exempted. In the year 1777-78 Krishna Rao Anant had to employ 33 Berads and Mangs at an annual expenditure of Rs. 2,104. He was instructed to raise this amount by taxing the well-to-do alone.¹⁴

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¹³ P. D., Vol. VIII, pp. 133-134.

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¹⁴ P. D., Vol. VIII, pp. 132-133.

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Such additional Police force was also sent on temporary duty for maintaining peace and order in holy places of pilgrimage like Pandharpur and Nasik at the time of great religious festivals when people of all descriptions flocked there. In 1753-54, one hundred and fifty men from the forts of Satara, Chandan and Wandan and twenty-five horsemen were deputed to Pali for one month to maintain order at the annual fair.⁴⁵ In 1788-89 one hundred Gardis were sent to Nasik to keep order among the pilgrims visiting the place during the *Sinhastha*.⁴⁶

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⁴⁵ P. D., Vol. II, p. 72.

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⁴⁶ P. D., Vol. VIII, p. 136.

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18. *The Kotwal:*

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In big cities the police was placed under an officer called Kotwal. His duties included regulation of prices and taking of census. The duties of the officer are enumerated as follows in a document issued in 1767-68, for the guidance of Janardan Hari, when he was appointed to the Kotwalship of Poona:

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1. Minor disputes in the Peths and in the Kasba should be disposed of by the Kamavisdars of the several Peths: disputes of importance should be disposed of by the Kotwal.

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2. The Kotwal should fix the prices of goods and a list of the prices fixed should be daily submitted to the Government.

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3. The Kotwal should arrange to supply labourers as required by Government from among the artizans and the members of the several castes in the city; sales and purchases of land sites should be made with the permission of the Kotwal who should prepare the necessary documents and receive the fees due to Government.

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4. The Kotwal should take the census; he should keep a record of all persons coming into and leaving the city. The Kamavisdars of the Peths should supply him with information on this point.

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5. Should the Kotwal consider any regulation followed by the last Kotwal or any new regulation to be fit for adoption, he should report it to the Huzur and act in accordance with such orders as might then be issued.

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6. All disputes relating to roads, lanes and houses should be disposed of by the Kotwal.

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7. The Kotwal should furnish monthly accounts to Government.

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8. The Kotwal should issue orders for any proclamation being made by the beat of drum.

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9. Professional gamblers should not gamble without the permission of the Kotwal who should levy from them the usual fees. Other persons are not allowed to gamble.⁴⁷

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⁴⁷ P. D., Vol. VII, pp. 233-236. Summary by B. P. Joshi.

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It is needless to say that his ample authority gave the Kotwal ample opportunities for abusing it. The abuse of power reached its climax in the notorious Ghasiram, a Kanojia Brahman, who occupied the post of Kotwal at Poona during the administration of Nana Fadnavis. Much capital has been made out of his case by European writers. Grant Duff remarks, "No instance of greater neglect on the part of an administration, or of more extraordinary criminality in a subordinate officer, is recorded in the annals of any state than the case of Ghasiram, Kotwal, or Police Superintendent, of the city of Poona. This man, a Brahman native of Hindoostan, employed the power with which he was vested in perpetrating the most dreadful murders. People disappeared and no trace of them could be found. Ghasiram was suspected, but Nana Fadnavis refused to listen to complaints, apparently absurd from their unexampled atrocity." I do not think that Ghasiram's case reflects any discredit on the administration in general.

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*19. Forbes on Ghasiram's case:*

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It appears from a contemporary English account that there was not a tithe of evidence against Ghasiram, and he was an unfortunate victim of undeserved suspicion. According to Forbes, who derived his information from no less a personage than Sir Charles Malet, the mob was encouraged "by many persons desirous of mortifying the ruling minister through the ignominy of the cutwal his dependant." The Peshwa weakly surrendered the 'foreigner' into the hands of an infuriated mob that subjected the Kotwal to all sorts of humiliation and finally stoned him to death.⁴⁸

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⁴⁸ Forbes, Oriental Memories, Vol. II, p. 135. The full account of the affair will be found in a letter published in the 9th volume of Aitihasik Lekha Sangraha by Vasudev Shastri Khare.

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The officers of Indian Police in those days were not without their faults, and we cannot say that supervision by English officers has absolutely purged that department of corruption even now. About thirty years ago, a Brahman officer of Bengal Police was accused and convicted of an offence, which would make Ghasiram blush and cry shame. That does not prove any neglect of supervision on the part of the higher authorities. Abuse there was, but it seldom assumed such a serious character as to be accounted a great public danger. Elphinstone remarks, "The Police however was good on the whole, murder or robberies attended with violence and alarm were very rare; and I have never heard any complaints of the insecurity of property."

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Baji Rao II, weak and wicked as he was, did much for the improvement of the police. A special officer called *Tapasnavis* was appointed by him for general supervision and inspection of the police force. They were quite independent of the Mamlatdars and their jurisdiction did not always coincide with revenue districts.

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20. *The Metropolitan Police :*

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The Metropolitan Police at Poona became a model body during the administration of the last of the Peshwas. The efficiency and honesty of this body had extorted the applause of critics like Elphinstone and Tone. William Henry Tone served in the army of Baji Rao II, and he had first-hand knowledge of the Peshwa's Government. His remarks therefore claim our best regards. Tone says, "It is little remarkable for anything but its excellent Police which alone employs thousand men. After the firing of the gun, which takes place at ten at night, no person can appear in the streets without being taken up by the Patroles, and detained prisoner until dismissed in the morning by the Kotwal. So strict is the discipline observed that the Peshwa himself had been kept prisoner a whole night for being out at improper hours." No less than Rs. 9,000, Elphinstone tells us, were spent for the upkeep of this splendid body consisting of a large number of peons, horse patrols and Ramoshis. Lt. Edward Moor and his brother officers visited Poona in 1792 and they heard that the police of Poona was "uncommonly well regulated." 49

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⁴⁹ Moor, A Narrative of the Operations of Captain Little's Detachment (London 1794), p. 364.

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We cannot say that the London police of the time was as efficient as the Poona police, before its reorganisation by Peel. Sir Spencer Walpole says, "There was no efficient police force in London. A small horse patrol nominally guarded the suburbs; a small foot patrol nominally guarded the metropolis. The horse patrol consisted of only fifty-four, the foot patrol of only one hundred men. The peace of London, otherwise, depended on the parish constables in the day time, on the old watch at night. The ingenuity of man could have hardly devised a feebler protection."