The Criminal Tribes (Denotified) Settlements in Madras Presidency – A Study

Abstract

Denotified Tribes or Ex-Criminal Tribes may be defined as a collection of families or groups of families bearing common name which as a rule does not denote any specific occupation. In some parts of the country they held together rather by the obligation of kinship. The name “Criminal Tribes” is a contradiction in terms of tribe becomes caste as it takes on the features of caste within a system of castes. The criminal tribes as a legal category came to notice in 1871 after the Criminal Tribes Act was passed and they were legally dubbed as such with that name. It did not mean that they were not called criminal tribes prior to the Criminal Tribes Act.