True Crime Writings in Colonial India: Offending Bodies and Darogas in Nineteenth-Century Bengal by Shampa Roy (review)

This book includes the author's translations of selected works of true crime writing by Bakaullah and Priyanath Mukhopadhyay, who worked as detectives ( darogas ) in colonial Bengal from the mid to late nineteenth century. Their writings are a reflection of their perceptions of criminality and crime and their experiences with colonial legal systems and policing. The selection of cases in this book, where women are the victims or culprits (or sometimes both), throws light on social life and social formation. The volume contains ten translated case accounts: three from Bakaullah and seven from Priyanath Mukhopadhyay