Antique FIRs: How Delhi has dealt with crime since the 19th Century
In the 1860s and 1870s, FIRs were barely a couple of sentences. In the next century, suspects were more sketched out. Today, FIRs run into several pages
Gursahay Brahman was probably too busy with customers to have the luxury of keeping a watch on the bedsheets he was selling at a market in south Delhi’s Badarpur on April 10. That was enough for Heera Singh who slyly lifted a bedsheet and tried to sneak away. However, the act was spotted by another customer, Ul Umar, who raised an alarm, drawing the attention of beat constable Akram who swiftly apprehended the suspect.
A case under Indian Penal Code section 379 (theft) was registered at Mehrauli police station and Singh produced before a court. The next day, on April 11, a judge ordered Singh to be beaten five times with a baton, and released.
No, this is not a crime story you missed reading in your daily newspaper. The story dates back 145 years to 1878, when Delhi had just five police stations – Mehrauli, Sabzi Mandi, Kotwali, Sadar Bazar and Nangloi.
Nearly 17kms apart, today Badarpur and Mehrauli have separate police stations and fall in different police districts. Today, a bedsheet theft may not even be reported to the police. If it does, there is a low likelihood of the police registering an FIR. If both actions are taken, it could take months and even years for the case to be decided. Lashing and baton-beating would be out of question, if the suspect ended up getting convicted under IPC section 379, which carries a jail term of up to three years.
This sneak peek into over a century-old criminal cases is possible today, thanks to a digitisation exercise taken up by the Delhi Police and spearheaded by its assistant commissioner of police, Rajendra Singh Kalkal -- a cartoonist, motivational speaker and former in-charge of the Delhi Police Museum.
Kalkal says that he has been digging out these old FIRs from the five police stations, gathering the content written in Urdu and Persian, getting it translated by maulvis at a madrasa and a mosque in old Delhi, and then digitising them in English while accompanying them with a suitable cartoon. It is a tedious, time-consuming process for the Delhi Police officer currently posted with the media perception cell, but that hasn’t stopped him from digitising 29 such FIRs already.
“It is important to preserve our history, and my effort is a step in that direction. These FIRs show how policing has evolved since then,” says Kalkal. Among the FIRs digitised so far, 26 were registered between the 1862 and 1900, and three between 1901 and 1956.
Sanjay Singh, special commissioner (perception management) of Delhi Police, says that Kalkal’s efforts are a part of a project to preserve the heritage of Delhi Police. “These antique FIRs show our gradual evolution and how we have grown. These digitised FIRs will add to our legacy,” says Singh.
Based on his study of Delhi Police’s history, Kalkal says that the Indian Police Act came in 1861 in response to the Indian Rebellion of 1857. “Five police stations in Delhi were set up in 1861, and the 29 FIRs I have digitised so far pertain to those police stations,” says Kalkal. The first FIR registered by the Delhi Police was of theft of a hukkah, utensils and some kulfis at Sabzi Mandi police station.
Vikram Singh, former chief of Uttar Pradesh Police, says the antique FIRs are “objects of art” that offer a glimpse into the life and crimes back then. Cases were registered over issues such as theft of articles such as a pair of shoes in one instance, 11 oranges in another and a hookah in a third. A robbery case back then details how a man taking his goats from Mehrauli to Gurugram for grazing when a robber slapped him and took away his cattle. A case of cheating included a man offering lift to a pedestrian on his bicycle and then fleeing with his bundle of clothes.
“Thanks to the efforts that have gone into the digitisation process, today you know that FIRs have always held tremendous value. Even in those times, details such as timing of the crime, the identification of the suspect and eyewitnesses were of the utmost value,” says Singh.
Kalkal says the FIRs shows how reporting of crimes has evolved over the years. “Unlike today, when contents of FIRs run into several pages, back then the reports contained basic handwritten details written that will fit in a single page.”
In the 1860s and 1870s, FIRs were barely a couple of sentences. In the next century, the old FIRs show details of crimes and suspects were more sketched out. Today, FIRs run into several pages in many cases. The recent FIR against politician Brij Bhushan Singh by wrestlers, for instance, ran into 15 pages.
What has remained constant though are the columns in which the content is divided, such as the time of the offence, distance of crime scene from the police station, reason for delay, etc.
“Life was simpler back then. People had little money and belongings,” says Kalkal explaining the reasons for brief FIR details then.
In most offences, that were translated and digitised by Kalkal and his team, court delivered justice within a day or two. Judges back then awarded jail terms of up to two years for robbery, but often let convicts off by ordering them to be whipped with batons, or be fined up to five times the worth of the stolen items, the FIRs show.
“It appears the judges would use their discretion to order beating or issue a fine in petty cases. A monetary fine, for instance, would be a bigger deterrent along with being humane and practical,” Kalkal says.
Before he retires four years down the line, Kalkal’s target is to digitise a total of 100 such “antique” FIRs. “Those antique FIRs offer valuable lessons on what parts of history we need to preserve, and what needs to be done away with”.