We live in pretty much a crime free environment. This isn't to say that minor misdemeanours don't occur, and if someone has transgressed the issue is dealt with by the local Panchayat and usually involves a rather large fine (approximately 5000 rupees). And this is RARE. The Bharari Police came into the valley recently (sending 'shock waves' through the community) under the pretext of investigating the alleged sale of illegal alcohol in Khati. However, no one is going to talk in a small town - especially when the aformentioned alcohol is sold by locals to local inhabitants. Needless to say they left "none the wiser"...
This is a culture where the house hold door is always open and while the ubiquitous tin trunks inside always sport massive padlocks it appears that there is no real threat. Periodically, when we are overwhelmed with constant human interaction we started shutting our door for an hour or so - now if you are at home this is simply an unheard of practice. As a result, it doesn't take long for the rumour to go around that something is horribly wrong and before you know it various people are actually knocking on the aformentioned door to find out what the problem could possibly be! We then decided that given the concept of personal space is totally alien it was actually easier to leave our door constantly open!!
I have to admit that the kids do run rampant when mum is in the fields and the main item to steal is sugar!! Recently, rice, sugar and milk were mysteriously disappearing from various houses. The culprits caught not long after the items had started to vanish, turned out to be small and male (6-11 years old) who were actually in the process of setting up their own little hotel at Nankhati (about 1/2 km from town). The budding entreprenuers had even sold a few cups of tea and kheer for sweeties before being caught and swiftly dealt with by irrate mum's who had been left pondering on why stocks had been diminishing!!
On the subject of crime I was recently reading a wonderful article by George William Traill that originally appeared in the Journal of Asiatic Researches in 1828. He describes the Gorkha governers of the Kumaon region who implemented a variety of punishments for crime. For example: the trial by water mode "in which two boys, both unable to swim, were thrown into a pond of water, and the longest liver gained the cause" or the use of poison which was resorted to as a criterion of innocence: a dose of a particular root was administered, and the party, if he survived was absolved! Or what about the three forms of ordeal that were in common use: 1st THe Gola Dip which consisted of receiving in the palms of the hands, and carrying to a certain distance, a red hot bar of iron. 2nd: The Karai dip into which the hand is plunged into a vessel of boiling oil, in which cases the test of truth is the absence of marks of burning on the hand. 3rd: Tarazu ka Dip in this the person undergoing the ordeal was weighed at night, against stones, which were then carefully deposited under lock and key, and the seal of the superintending officer; on the appellant was aghain weighted, and the substantiation of his cause depended on his proving heavier than on the preceding evening.
Grevious offences against the Hindu religion, such as the wilful destruction of a cow or the infringement of the distinction of caste by a Dom, such as knowingly using a hukkah or any other instrument belonging to a Rajput or Brahmin was captial punishment. The mode of inflicting the capital punishment was either by hanging or beheading. The Gorkhas introduced impaling, and sometimes put convicts to death by torture. Having your nose cut off for adultery was common as were fines for women who simply ascended to the top of her house*. The list is endless and also endlessly entertaining.... (that is if you have a sick sense of humour?!)
Bonnie
PEAK
* Information: George William Traill, Statistical Sketch of the Kumaon, Journal of Asiatic Research, 1828.
