Dacoity

A (Tantia Bhil) dacoit with gun

Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in Bengali, Odiya, Hindi, Kannada and Urdu. The spelling is the anglicized version of the Hindustani word and as a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning, it appears in the Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases (1903). Banditry is criminal activity involving robbery by groups of armed bandits. The East India Company established the Thuggee and Dacoity Department in 1830, and the Thuggee and Dacoity Suppression Acts, 1836–1848 were enacted in British India under East India Company rule. Areas with ravines or forests, such as Chambal and Chilapata Forests, were once known for dacoits.

Etymology

The word "dacoity", the anglicized version of the Hindustani word ?akait? (historically spelled dakaitee, Hindi ????? or Urdu ????? or Bengali ??????, or Odiya ?????? ), comes from ??k? (historically spelled dakoo, Hindi: ????, Urdu: ????, meaning "armed robber") or Bengali ?akat (?????, or Odiya ??????).

In Urdu, ??k? ???? is singular and ?akait ???? plural for bandits. The crime of banditry is known as dakaitee ?????.

In Hindi dacoity (Hindi: ????? ?akait?, Urdu: ????? ?akait?, Bengali: ?????? ?akati, or Odiya ??????) means "armed robbery".

The term dacoit (Hindi: ???? ?akait, Urdu: ???? ?akait, Bengali: ????? ??k?t, or Odiya ??????) means "a bandit", according to the OED ("A member of a class of robbers in India and Burma, who plunder in armed bands.") Dacoits existed in Burma as well as in India - Rudyard Kipling's fictional Private Mulvaney hunted Burmese dacoits in "The Taking of Lungtungpen". Sax Rohmer's criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu also employed Burmese dacoits as his henchmen. The term also applied, according to the OED, to "pirates who formerly infested the Ganges between Calcutta and Burhampore".

Indian police forces use "Known Dacoit" (K.D.) as a label to classify criminals.

The dacoity have had a large impact in the Morena and Chambal regions in Madhya Pradesh.

Dacoits

A family of Indian dacoits

Notable dacoits include:

Veerappan
Malangi
Phoolan Devi
Dadua
Daku Man Singh He was involved in 90 police encounters and killed 32 police officers.
Nirbhay Gujjar
Sultana Daku
Paan Singh Tomar
Hafizullah
Ramesh Singh Sikarwar

°*Amritlal kirar famous daaku in chambal ] the famous daaku in chambal^[6]

Protection measures

In Madhya Pradesh, women belonging to a village defence group have been issued firearm permits to fend off dacoity. The chief minister of the state, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, recognised the role the women had played in defending their villages without guns. He stated that he wanted to enable these women to better defend both themselves and their villages, and issued the gun permits to advance this goal.^[7]

In popular culture

Dacoit films

As the dacoits flourished through the 1940s–1970s, they were the subject of various Hindi films made during this era, leading to the emergence of the dacoit film genre in Bollywood. The genre began with Mehboob Khan's Aurat (1940), which he remade as Mother India (1957). Mother India received an Academy Award nomination, and defined the dacoit film genre, along with Dilip Kumar's Gunga Jumna (1961).^[8] Other popular films in this genre included Raj Kapoor’s Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1961) and Moni Bhattacharjee's Mujhe Jeene Do (1963).^[9]

Pakistani actor Akmal Khan had two dacoit films, Malangi (1965) and Imam Din Gohavia (1967). Other films in this genre included Khote Sikkay (1973), Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971), and Kuchhe Dhaage (1973) both by Raj Khosla.

The most famous dacoit film is Sholay (1975), written by Salim-Javed and starring Amitabh Bachchan, and with its dacoit character Gabbar Singh played by Amjad Khan. It was a masala film that combined the dacoit film conventions of Mother India and Gunga Jumna with that of Spaghetti Westerns, spawning the Dacoit Western genre,^[8] often known as the "Curry Western" genre. Sholay became a classic in the genre, and its success led to a surge of films in this genre, including Ganga Ki Saugandh (1978), once again starring Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan.

Punjabi biopic Jatt Jeona Morh about the noted dacoit Jatt Jeona Morh, was made in 1991; also in that same year came Jagga Daku, based on a noted outlaw and dacoit during the British Raj, Jagga Daku.

An internationally acclaimed example of the genre is Bandit Queen (1994).

Tamil movie, Karthi starrer Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (2017) deals elaborately about Bandits. The film reveals the real dacoity incidents which held in Tamil Nadu between 1995 and 2005. Director Vinoth did a 2 year research about Bandits to develop the script.

A related genre of crime films are Mumbai underworld films.

Other media

A Hindi novel ????? ??? ?? ????? (Painstth Lakh ki Dacoity, 1977) was written by Surender Mohan Pathak; it was translated as The 65 Lakh Heist.

Dacoits armed with pistols and swords appear in Age of Empires III: Asian Dynasties.

They frequently appeared in the French language Bob Morane series of novels by Henri Vernes, principally as the main thugs or assassins of the hero's recurring villain, Mr. Ming.