Denotified Tribes (DNTs), also known as Vimukta Jati, are the tribes that were originally listed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, as "Criminal Tribes" and "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences." Once a tribe became "notified" as criminal, all its members were required to register with the local magistrate, failing which they would be charged with a "crime" under the Indian Penal Code. The Criminal Tribes Act of 1952 repealed the notification, i.e. 'de-notified' the tribal communities. This Act, however, was replaced by a series of Habitual Offenders Acts, that asked police to investigate a "suspect's" "criminal tendencies" and whether their occupation is "conducive to settled way of life." The denotified tribes were reclassified as "habitual offenders" in 1959. The name "Criminal Tribes" is itself a misnomer as no definition of tribe denotes occupation, but they were identified as tribes "performing" their primary occupation. The first census was in 1871 and at that time there was no consensus nor any definition of what constitutes a "tribe". The terms "tribe" and "caste" were used interchangeably for these communities.

1. DENOTIFIED TRIBES IN INDIA

2. CONTENTS
• Introduction – History
• Roots – Caste System In India
• DNTs - Meaning
• DNTs – Repealed Acts
Hereditary Crimes
The Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) of 1871
Habitual Offenders Act 1952
National Commission for DNTs, Nomadic & Semi Nomadic tribes
• Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION - HISTORY
• Vedic period - crimes and anti-social behaviours.
• Manusmriti - there was an age when Dharma
prevailed in perfection but gradually Adharma
made its headway giving rise to theft, falsehood
and fraud.
• An ancient sage, Kamandaka wrote about the
need of danda (punishment).
• Kautilya has said that thieves and robbers are the
pests of the society and suggested various steps
to eliminate such criminal elements.
• Chauryashashtra (Art of Thievery) – one among
the 18 Vidyas and 64 Kalas…

4. CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA

5. DENOTIFIED TRIBES - MEANING
• DE notified Tribes (DNTs), also
known as Vimukta Jati, are the
tribes that were originally
listed as "Criminal Tribes" and
"addicted to the systematic
commission of non-bailable
offences."
• Once a tribe became "notified" as
criminal, all its members were
required to register with the local
magistrate, failing which they
would be charged with a "crime"
under the Indian Penal Code.

6. Hereditary Crimes
• It is not clearly documented if some particular
communities were habitually engaged in crimes.
However, the Thugs in medieval India are groups of
assassins whose profession was to deceive people
and strangle them to death with their Pugree or
scarf.
• The thugs were brutally suppressed in British India.
In 1835, the ‘Thug and Dacoit Dept.’ was created by
William Bentinck. A special prison was established at
Jabalpur for Thugs. The dept. started disseminating
information about the Thugs & at every Police
Station the information about the new techniques by
the Thugs would be sent.
• The caste system led to what may be called a dark
chapter for the tribes of India.

7. The Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) of 1871
• After the revolt of 1857, the British needed to take a number of preventive steps to
keep India in their clutches. The Law and Order Commission recommended that
certain communities in India were professionally criminal and their occupation as
well as religion was to commit crimes. On such recommendations, the Criminal
Tribes Act (CTA) of 1871 was enacted.
• This extremely oppressive act notified certain communities as criminal tribes.
Once a tribe became “notified” as criminal, here is what it meant for its members:
Every member of the notified community was forced to register himself/herself at
the local police station and had to give ‘Hazri’ (attendance) at a specified time of the
day.
Their movements were curtailed. They could not shift their residence at will and
had to take proper permission before any travel or movement.
Severe punishments were put in place for breaking these rules.
The local police could easily round up any member of the community upon mere
suspicion.

8. Contd.
• First tribe that was notified under this act was Hur of Sindh. Gradually, as
many as 198 tribes were brought in its ambit. The act was amended in 1897
and more stringent penalties were brought in.
• With idea of their rehabilitation gaining ground, the British Government
passed the Criminal Tribes Settlement Act, 1908. This act made provisions for
settlements of these communities so that they could be reformed.
• This was followed by a modification of the act in 1911 and a major
modification in 1923-24 with objective to integrate the criminal tribes with
the mainstream society. But these acts did not change the ground realities.
• After independence, the Criminal Tribes Act was repealed in 1952. After the
repeal, the tribal were denotified and thus were known as De-notified Tribes.

9. Habitual Offenders Act 1952
• The major difference between the previous act and new act was that the later
targeted individuals and not communities. But on ground, the same procedure
kept following. The whole communities kept branded or stigmatized on the colonial
model.
• Whenever a crime took place, the police round up all the male members of the
community in the vicinity and apply third degree to extract information. It is being
followed even till date. Such communities include Pardhis, Kanjars, Kanjarbhats
etc.
• The problem is complicated because some members of these communities are still
involved in crimes.
• The act has attracted criticism from civil society as well as United Nations on the
ground that it neglects the principle of the criminal justice system – innocent until.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) had asked
India to repeal the Habitual Offenders Act (1952) and effectively rehabilitate the
denotified and nomadic tribes, proven guilty.

10. National Commission for De-notified,
Nomadic and Semi Nomadic tribes
• There are 1500 Nomadic / Semi-Nomadic Tribes and around 150
Denotified Tribes, which make about 11 Crore of India’s population.
• The constitution of India identifies only scheduled castes, scheduled
tribes and backwards. It does not make any special provision for
Denotified tribes as such.
• In 2005, the Government of India established the National
Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes
(NCDNT) to study various developmental aspects of these Tribes.

11. The Commission made several
recommendations, enumerated as follows:
• Reservations, as available to SCs and STs should be extended to Denotified,
nomadic or semi-nomadic tribe categories.
• Extension of Prevention of Atrocities Act to them. The Act currently applies
to only SCs and STs.
• Initiation of a special housing scheme to ensure that families are provided
with “small pukka houses”.
• Provide permanent shelter by helping them settle down as villages.
• A Minimum Land Holding Act should be put in place to guarantee land to
these tribes in case they want to settle down and engage in agriculture.
• Suitable training should be provided to these tribal to develop their existing
skills and develop livelihood options.

12. Conclusion
• The DNTs being a transient
and mobile group have
always remained at the
periphery of Indian society
and have not received due
attention. There is a need
to make efforts on a wider
scale to bring them back to
social mainstream.

14. REFERENCE
•http://www.gktoday.in/issues-around-
denotified-nomadic-tribes-dnts-of-india/
•https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denotified_Tribes