In Bengal village, thieves have a code of honour

[vsdprasad]

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Bandel (West Bengal): For them, the act of stealing is not something to be ashamed of. They are proud to carry on their ''ancestral profession'' but with ''ethics''.

 

About 1000 people from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have settled in this quiet suburb of Hooghly district, about 40 kms from Kolkata on the banks of the Ganges, and have been eking out their living through ''kepmari,'' which means cheat or theif and describes the tribe so named, for two to three generations.

 

What is most interesting about these people is that the members of ''Madrasi Para'', as their locality is commonly dubbed, are mostly engaged in stealing but outside West Bengal, their ''mother state''.

 

When this correspondent met one of the group headmen, S K Debraj alias ''Junglee'', in one of the dingy lanes of ''Madrasi Para'', he expressed ''enormous pride'' in their ''community profession''.

 

''We are very pious people. We have a 'dharma' in our profession. We take advantages of people's carelessness and, most importantly, there is no bloodsign in our act. There is an 'ahimsa' in our act. There is a true professionalism,'' said Junglee, sporting a ''rudraksh mala'' around neck and chandan ''tilak'' on forehead.

 

''We do not operate in West Bengal as we are grateful to the land as it had once given our forefathers the shelter when they were driven out of Rangoon,'' Junglee added.

 

Talking about their modus operandi, Junglee said they normally operated in long distance trains.

 

''We mostly start operation from areas along Bengal-Bihar and Bengal-Orissa borders. We buy rail tickets as far as to Mumbai, Delhi and other major cities. In the compartments, we identify the wealthy travellers and befriend them. Then we offer them a cup of tea or coffee."

 

"We have several tea vendors at different railway stations who are working for us. The tea they offer contain some sedatives and after the passenger falls asleep, we take away his belongings,'' he said.

 

''Besides, we also take advantages of people's carelessness and escape with their valuables from the stations. Normally members of our group change compartments, after their act is over, at major railway junctions,'' Junglee said.

 

''However, we do not get into any venture where income can be lower than at least Rs 20,000.''

 

Arjan, Junglee's teenaged son, said guys of his age did not want to go to schools and join the mainstream as chances of earning were much more in their age-old profession.

 

''Several families have become really rich by this profession. They had nothing when they settled there. 'Par aaj woh saab shaan se ji raha hai'(Today they are living in style),'' Junglee said.

 

He, however, added that some of the members of this generation were not following their forefathers' footsteps and setting up businesses of their own like idli shops, 'bindi' making units and fishing.

 

Asked whether police ever raided their areas he said , ''The security people do their 'dharma'; we follow ours'. However, we have our lawyers to release us on bails and fight for our cases. After all, the maximum number of cases filed are against some unknown accused. Identifying us for any specific stealing is next to impossible.''

 

Asked why a lesser number of male members were seen in the locality, he said they remained out of the state most of the time.

 

''The menfolk come back during various festivals like Ganesh puja and Shiv puja. We are very religious. We always try to keep the gods happy to see our profession go steady,'' he said standing in front of a huge temple of Goddess 'Shitala', constructed by them.

UNI