In the colonial India, the British during their reign, encountered so many difficult problems and bottlenecks and they successfully tackled them without any hitch. Not so in the case of thuggee issue, a menace to the growing society. Scores of innocent Indian travelers disappeared on the long caravan routes without a trace of clues. The spree of murders without bloodshed continued unabated without any viable solution in sight. One Sir. William Henry Sleeman, with full support from Gov. General William Bentinck, took the challenge seriously and after a long battle eliminated the worst, disgraceful criminal bands in the annals of world criminal history.
 |
| William Henry Sleeman alchetron.com |
Major-general Sir William Henry Sleeman KCB (8 August 1788 - 10 February 1856) a competent, duty-bound British soldier and administrator in British India, is best remembered for his major contribution toward complete elimination of the thuggee activities in certain parts of north India that gave nightmares to the the people who began to lose confidence in the British administration. Born in Stratton, Cornwall, the son of Philip Sleeman, he joined the Bengal army in 1809. Sleeman's chequered carrier saw him holding several positions -he fought in the Nepal War between 1814–1816, he served as junior assistant to the Gov. General in 1820, etc.
He also did magisterial duties in Sagar town till 1835.
 |
| medium.com |
The British having lost their patience, decided to put an end to the grappling problem of thuggee menace as they were secretly protected by some powerful, unscrupulous zamindars - land owners in some remote parts
of N. India.The
incidences of killing of innocent travelers in a caravan were on the
increase and it became a serious issue with the English rulers. Only in
the 1830s, the thuggees were suppressed by the East India company
officials after long and successful operations. The credit goes to
William Sleeman and William Bentinck. Gov. General of India who made
every effort to get to the bottom of this worst criminal activity.William Sleeman, after prolonged tailing of the perpetrators of crime by his subordinates, caught one "Feringhee" alias Sayed Amir Ali who coughed up all that he knew of the cult and ultimately
became the prime prosecution witness for the Crown. He gave in-depth
details of their operations, etc when he was taken to a grave that
contained about 100 bodies. Earlier government sleuths discovered
numerous graves, containing scores of bodies near the caravan routes in
secluded places that won't raise suspicion.
A
separate Thuggee and Dacoity Department was created in 1835 with Sleeman
as its head by the government to find a permanent remedy for this
dacoity problem.
As the people had been warned about their mode and place of operation,
etc., through circulars, public announcements, etc they became
cautious. As a result of continuous monitoring and tailing, loathsome
thugs in thousands were
arrested, executed and some were expelled from the British territories.Their successful operations against the thuggees were, to a large
extent, dependent on the captured thugs. The
informants and whistle blowers were given protection by the government.
The thuggee cult was completely suppressed for good by 1870. This
criminal operations led to the formation of Criminal
Tribes Act (CTA) of 1871. After 1904 it became Central Criminal
Intelligence department(CID). The tribes that were considered criminals
still exist, though they lead a normal, honest life, because of the blot
on their fore fathers, they are not well treated by the society. Numerous innocent tribal communities were affected by this act.
In the southern part of Tamil Nadu, numerous Maravar communities were forced to register under CTA. A dynamic leader of exceptional ability and courage by the name of Sri Muthu Ramalinga Thevar (30 October 1908 - 30 October 1963), a prominent Forward Bloc leader and a staunch supporter and close associate of Netaji Bose, took the cudgels against the Madras Presidency government headed by the Justice party. Later the Congress ministry headed by Sri C. Rajagopala Chari was unable to repel the act. After his prolonged struggle, this law was at last repelled in 1946.
Sleeman successfully had his deputies follow certain strategies such as place of
operations, choosing of their victims, their Modus Operandi, etc.,
that worked well. They picked up certain consistent patterns that gave
them the lead.
 |
| Mysterious criminals |
 |
| thuggees, cult of assassins, India ancient-origins.net |
 |
| Indian Justice VIPs and ordinary people. Systemsaramemoir.wordpress.com |
 |
| navrangindia.blogspot.com |
In the 19th century alone, the notorious thugs, it is believed, killed as many as 40,000 innocent travelers annually. Estimates of total death varies widely as there is no proper record of their early growth and duration of their existence in the past. The Guinness book of Records show the thuggee cult killed two million people over centuries. One historian Mike Dash said the cult killed 50,000 people annually over a period of 150 years.The thuggee had been active since early 13th century. Any way, in the crime history of the world, there had never been such dreaded and detestable bands of thieves in any part of the world as the thuggees of the Indian subcontinent whose spree of murders baffled the British officials. It was the worst criminal operation in the world.
 |
| Politicians of plenty.plus.google.com |
As for Sleeman, it was a good job well done, completely eradicating the worst criminal gangs that had successfully operated in the remote areas of India for centuries. Later he became the Resident at Gwalior from 1833 to 1849 and subsequently at Lucknow from 1849 to 1856. When Lord Dalhousie was trying to annex Awadh under some pretext, he opposed his movie, but his advice was ignored. Sleeman wrote three books on the thuggees - Language used by Thugs; Report on the Depredations Committed by the Thug Gangs of Upper and Central India; and The Thugs or Phansigars of India.
At Jabalpore, Sleeman married Amélie Josephine, the daughter of a French nobleman Count Blondin de Fontenne and the couple had seven children.
He died and was buried at sea near Ceylon on a recovery trip to Britain in 1856, just six days after being awarded the Order of the Bath. The village Sleemanabad in Madhya Pradesh, India was named in his honor.
Further reading:
http://navrangindia.blogspot.in/2015/04/indian-thugs-first-criminal-act-british.html
http://navrangindia.blogspot.in/2015/04/indian-thugs-colonial-indian-mafiosi.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Sleeman
https://medium.com/@sac.jadhav93/the-real-thugs-of-india-and-their-unfortunate-legacy-e02d8d60530e
K. N. Jayaraman
