The Goondas-Towards a Reconstruction of the Calcutta Underworld through Police Records

Towards a Reconstruction of the Calcutta Underworld through Police Records Suranjan Das Research on the history of British and American crime has shown that at particular historical junctures, crime can be a prologue to conscious and articulate resistance by the dispossessed. Some hitherto unutilised Bengal Police files on 'goondas' in Calcutta are examined from this point of view. These are found to be valuable sources for the historical study of the operation of the police and the legal structure in the colonial period and after.