Abstract: In colonial India, the insistence on imperial authority had to be accomplished through structures shaped by constant interaction with the society the British ruled. It is the legal expression of this interaction, as much as the imperial ideology of rule that is examined here. British identified as ‘extraordinary’ crime and located criminality within social groups. The identification of criminality and criminal behaviour however excluded the elites like the higher caste and class groups. It was often the lower economic and social groups within which criminality was located and the construction of the categories of ‘criminal’ and criminal behaviour was accomplished. In colonial Orissa, this formed an important imperial strategy in the making of the colonial state. Through this, the colonial state sought to enjoy unlimited authority over each sections of the society that helped in the establishment of colonial sovereignty over indigenous population.
Keywords: Rule of Law, Crime, Criminality, Customs, Sovereignty, Colonial Orissa.
Title: The ‘Myth’ Of Equality of ‘Rule of Law’: Crimes and Criminality in Colonial Orissa
Author: Sasmita Rani Shasini
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), SSN 2348-3164 (online)
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