Demand for steps to reform Sansis living in border areas
The suggestions
— Allow them to brew liquor legally, police officials suggest to government
— Step, if taken, will keep them away from drug peddling
— Reports say that Sansis taking to drug peddling
— The martial tribe labelled as criminal by the British continues to live with stigma
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, December 9
The Sansi tribe residing in the border areas of Kangra district along Pathankot district of Punjab is infamous for drug peddling. The police blame sections of the Sansi tribe for peddling drugs in the Kangra region.
However, people are now demanding that the government should initiate steps to reform the community, which has been labelled as criminal even after 70 years of Independence. Some officials concerned have suggested that the government should allow the Sansi tribesmen to brew liquor legally.
A senior police official, while talking to The Tribune, said, “The Sansis have been traditionally involved in the trade of illicit liquor brewing. They have the knowledge across generations of how to brew liquor. The government should establish norms and control the quality of liquor being produced by them. This would help legalise their business and the government can also earn revenue from their vocation”.
The official said that the Excise Act formulated by the British was still applicable in India. Under the Act, all liquor that was imported from foreign countries was legal while the local made liquor had been declared illegal. In case the Sansis of Kangra were allowed to brew and sell liquor legally, it could keep them away from drug peddling.
Kangra SP Vimukt Ranjan said that Sansi tribals were generally brew illicit liquor in their area and sold it in adjoining areas of Punjab and Himachal. The police used to book them under the Excise Act. Even on Thursday the police destroyed about 6,000 litres of illicit liquor in the Indora area of Kangra district.
“Now, a few families of the tribe have taken to drug peddling. In about 80 per cent cases of drug peddling registered in Kangra district, Sansi tribals were found to be involved. Generally, those peddling drugs like heroin were themselves drug addicts. It was a matter of concern that the Sansis are taking to drug peddling in place of brewing liquor. I have written to the government for steps to reform the community so that their youth do not take to drug peddling,” he added.
Asked if the Sansis should be allowed to brew liquor legally, he said that it was for the government to decide. However, it is fact that some Sansis were famous for the liquor they brew.
About Sansi Tribe
The Sansis are a martial tribe having traces of roots in Rajasthan. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who ruled over Punjab with its boundaries extending to the borders of Afghanistan, was also a Sansi.
According to historian Raj Kumar Sharma, after the 1847 war between the British and the Sikhs, the kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was annexed and merged with British India. However, the Sansi tribals continued to resist the British. The British declared the Sansis a criminal tribe under the Indian Penal Code. So, severe was their prosecution by the British that their children were not allowed to attend schools and the tribe members could not own land. The Sansi tribals continued to be labelled as ‘criminals’ even after Independence. However, the blemish of ‘criminals’ was removed in 1950s, he added.
