A reading of Michael Kennedy’s (1908) treatise on ‘criminal classes’ in British India offers fresh perspective on the Kathua rape–murder in historical terms. What emerges through an exercise that connects past to present, colony to nation, is how the pending fate of a Bakarwal girl was first inscribed in colonial ink for being a nomad, and later fulfilled in Independent India for being a Muslim. The manner in which the colonial programme of stigmatizing nomadic societies, particularly its women and children, is being adapted, intensified and given renewed direction through Hindu hyper-nationalism is thus underscored. The failure of civil society to recognize the refraction of colonial power in a communal atmosphere, and thus come up with promising alternatives to prevent such crimes, is further highlighted.
CederloffG. (2014). Founding an empire on India’s north-eastern frontiers, 1790–1840: Climate, commerce, polity. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.
2.
DalyF. (1916). Manual of criminal classes operating in Bengal. Calcutta, India: Government Press.
3.
EdwardesS. M. (1923). Bombay city police: A historical sketch, 1672–1916. London, UK: Oxford University Press.
4.
Financial Express (2018, April). Who are the Muslim Bakarwals?Financial Express. Retrieved from https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/who-are-bakarwal-muslims/1132168/
5.
Firstpost (2019, June). Kathua rape and murder case verdict. Firstpost. Retrieved from https://www.firstpost.com/india/kathua-rape-and-murder-case-verdict-pathankot-courts-judgment-focused-on-poetic-justice-refused-to-give-benefit-of-doubt-to-accused-6825801.html
6.
FreitagS. (1991). Crime in the social order of colonial north India. Modern Asian Studies, 25(2), 227–261.
7.
KannabiranK. (2008). Rape and the construction of communal identity. In JohnM. (Ed.), Women studies in India (pp. 228–234). New Delhi, India: Penguin.
8.
KennedyM. (1985). The criminal classes in India. Bombay, India: Mittal Publications.
9.
KennedyM. (1908). Notes on the criminal classes of Bombay Presidency. Bombay, India: Central Government Press.
10.
KukretiI. (2018, April). Kathua incident reveals threats to pastoral nomads of Jammu and Kashmir. Down to Earth. Retrieved from https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/a-people-unwanted-60575
11.
Maharashtra State Criminal Investigation Department—Official website (2019, January). Retrieved from http://mahacid.com/
12.
MullalyF. (1892). Notes on the criminal classes of Madras Presidency. Madras, India: Government Press.
13.
Outlook (2018, April). ‘Darkest hour, failed as a nation’: Ex-bureaucrats write open letter to PM Modi. Outlook. Retrieved from https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/failed-as-a-nation-ex-bureaucrats-writes-open-letter-to-pm-modi-after-kathua-unn/311050
14.
PowellB. (1892). Land systems of British India. London, UK: Wentworth Press.
15.
RadhakrishnaM. (2001). Dishonoured by history: ‘Criminal tribes’ and British colonial policy. New Delhi, India: Orient Longman.
16.
RamaswamyS. (2010). Goddess and the nation: Mapping mother India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
17.
RoychowdhuryA. (2018, April). The Bakarwals: Behind the Kathua rape a tribe that is both Hindu and Muslim. Indian Express. Retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/research/kathua-gang-rape-murder-bakarwal-muslims-jammu-kashmir-5136293/
18.
SarkarT. (1993). Rhetoric against the age of consent: Resisting colonial reason and the death of a child-wife. Economic and Political Weekly, 28(36), 1869–1878.
19.
Scroll.in (2018a, September). Kathua case: Doctors have told the court […]. Scroll.in. Retrieved from https://scroll.in/latest/893759/kathua-case-doctors-have-told-court-that-girl-was-raped-and-she-died-of-asphyxia-says-prosecutor
20.
Scroll.in (2018b, April). Who’s most guilty of the Kathua barbarity? Modi, Sangh Parivar, ‘secular parties’—and all of us. Scroll.in. Retrieved from https://scroll.in/article/876350/whos-most-guilty-of-the-kathua-barbarity-modi-sangh-parivar-secular-parties-and-all-of-us
21.
SenS. (2012). Disciplined natives: Race, freedom and confinement in colonial India. New Delhi, India: Primus.
22.
SpivakG. (2018). Can the subaltern speak? In NelsonC. & GrossbergL. (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). London, UK: Macmillan.
23.
The Hindu (2019, June). A welcome verdict: On Kathua rape case. The Hindu. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/a-welcome-verdict/article27819803.ece
24.
YangA. (1985). Crime and criminality in British India. Tucson, AZ: Arizona Press.
