[Reader-list] On the practice of KHOJ

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear All,

The text below refers to a practice of tracking an alleged criminal
from village to village through his footprint. This practice was
followed in Punjab and nearby areas till late 19th century. For me one
of the ways to think about these 'new' technologies, like MNIC, UID
etc is to look at it through history. Therefore it was kind of
interesting for me to think about this journey which the idea of
-tracking- has taken in the last 150 years. From footprint to
fingerprint, from criminals to everybody. Please do have a look at the
text below which I have copied from a document available at the
National Archives of India, New Delhi a few years ago.


Warm regards

Taha


NAI. Home Dept-Judicial-B-18th Oct 1871 no 39

Copy of letter No 292-2444,dated 29th 1861, from officiating Judicial
commissioner, Punjab, Secretary to Government, Punjab.

“In reply to your no.348, dated 23 rd current, I regret to say that
the system so well know in the Punjab and its Dependencies as the Khoj
system must necessarily give way before the Indian Penal Code, unless
measures are taken to lace the custom on a legal footing.

3. It is based on the principle of Village responsibility, and it
partakes both of a Police and a judicial character. A criminal is
tracked from village to Village, by professional trackers; as the
boundary of each innocent Village is passed, the honest Villager
returns to his house with a large heart, and the track is carried on
till it leads up to the criminal’s refuge, or lost on a sandy or rocky
soil.

Extract from “Manual of Punjab Criminal Law”

40. The Khoj system, by which the owners of a village are held
accountable for the amount of property stolen, when the footsteps of
the thieves are traced within and not beyond the boundaries, has been
distinctly recognized by Government. It is ancient, has worked well
whenever carefully looked after, and the people are generally attached
to it. It has a tendency to excite the community to assist in
preventing and detecting crimes, as well as in restraining the
inhabitants of Villages from harboring, desperate characters. There is
nothing in it opposed to the actual principles of justice,  it seems
reasonable enough that the villages which harbors and conceals an
offender against society, whose headsmen usually share the fruits of
his plunder, whose inhabitants refuse to join the hue and cry against
criminals, if it is merely from actual apathy and indifference to the
public weal, should, under, fear of a penalty , be excited to exert
themselves for the general good. But it gives rise to the greatest
abuses, if carelessly or badly superintended. The evils of the system
are inducement to invent or exaggerate losses, the power it places in
the hands of the Police to gratify their revenge and avarice,  and the
tendency, there undoubtedly exists in the system, to make the
sufferer, and the Police rest satisfied in proving the Khoj, instead
of following up and securing the perpetrators *. The whole value of
the system depends on the way it is worked, and Commissioners must
point out, in all cases that may come before them, the errors which
the lower courts may have made, and any departure from the Government
Rules.

•	The experiences of two years has convinced me of the bad effects of
too great a reliance in the Khoj system. One of the trackers has been
convicted of aiding in the escape of a criminal, and others have been
dismissed for very palpable negligence. Most of the trackers (and
those the most able) were previously connected with robbers, and
implicit confidence have been placed in them; they have taken
advantage of the circumstance to connive at the escape of real
offenders, and perhaps to accuse individuals. Unless their statements
are corroborated by extraneous evidence, their assertions cannot
safely be credited. Another evil resulting from the general employment
of trackers is the laxity which the system produces among the Police
seemed to think that any endeavors on their part were useless,
although in fact it was then their proper duty commenced”.
•	Circular Order of judicial Commissioner 1853-56


35. The Khoj system is particularly applicable in the case of cattle
theft. The best agency for checking the crime is to be found in the
employment of skillful trackers. Injured parties are not prevented
from having resort to private trackers whom they may wish to employ,
but if they desired to benefit by Khoj Rules, they must give immediate
information of their loss to the Police. To prevent cattle stealing
graziers on receiving cattle, whether from acquaintances or strangers,
should be directed to do so, in presence of the lumberdar and
Chowkeedar. This is necessary to prevent graziers, who are often in
league with the thieves, from pleading ignorance of the property
having been stolen, or that men following their occupation never
trouble themselves how or where the cattle were obtained. Also the
police should generally receive information of all sales of cattle.

CAVEAT-

Although I have copied this text with as much diligence as I could, I
do not know whether there may have been instances when I might have
erred in -exactly coping it as-it-appears-to-be. Therefore, I want to
suggest, especially to those people, who may want to use this text for
any purpose, that, please use the text here as a mere suggestion and
please verify it physically before citing or directly quoting. Any
subsequent fault arising from a non-compliance of the above suggestion
will not be mine.