Stigmas are still there: Colonial stereotype behind Budhan Sabar's death
- Man in India: Founded in 1921 by Sarat Chandra Roy
- 104(1-2), 2024: p.93-117
After a long two and a half decades, when Budhan became a symbol of movement, the conclusive verdict in the Budhan Sabar death case was delivered in February 2023, in which he died in jail custody following an illegal detention by the local police authority. Budhan was a member of the Kheriya-Sabar Tribe, an Ex-D.N.T. in the Purulia district, which was formerly known as the Criminal Tribes and was officially used after the introduction of the Criminal Tribes Act in 1871. The British capitalised on colonial legislative authority to stigmatise such class and tribal identities in order to control and wipe them out from any passive or active struggle in the remaining phases of their reign; however, these stigmatic feelings of exhaustion and dearth of confidence long persisted among these marginalised tribes of India for decades after independence. The present study illuminates the connection between colonial stereotypes and the Budhan Sabar case in Historical point of view.- Reproduced