There are an estimated sixty million Indians who still suffer the stigma of having been branded “born criminals” by the British. The Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 was used to control “wandering minstrels, fakirs, petty traders, rustic transporters and disbanded groups of soldiers” who evaded and sometimes opposed British authority.

Things did not significantly improve for India’s Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNTs) after independence. Police and vigilante mobs continue to target DNTs—often dolling out punishments far in excess of the supposed crimes without benefit of a fair trial.

As a result of this tragic history, DNTs lag behind many other groups on a variety of indicators: literacy, nutrition, health care, etc. “And above all, there is no end to the atrocities that the DNTs have to face.”