MAGNITUDE OF CRIME IN EARLY COLONIAL NADIA DISTRICT IN BENGAL: 1793-1856

Nadia was one of the largest districts in the colonial Bengal. In the formative years of colonial administration, interior parts of Bengal had witnessed widespread crime and criminal activities. It was perpetrated largely by the antisocial elements of the society. Nadia was a crime prone district as it was being described in the official narratives. Nadia was certainly an area of high crime zone for a few selective heinous crimes like dacoity, murder and burglary. This district always stood high in the rank of crime list of the Bengal districts. But this paper has shown that Nadia was not the most crime prone district in the period under discussion.