ABSTRACT
The Criminal Tribes Enquiry Committee Report said, ‘there are wandering tribes and are found in the Madras, Bombay, Madhya Bharat and in the Hyderabad states. They live by hunting, begging, collecting and selling forest produce and are experts in snaring birds.’ Among the tribes, there are some groups of people in India whose criminal propensities are well known and hence are dubbed as criminal tribes. These tribes are kept under constant vigil, both by people and the government. Tribes like Dommaras, Katheras and Nakkalas in Andhra Pradesh are still semi-nomadic and dubbed as ex-criminal tribes. They usually live in tandas throughout Andhra Pradesh. Dommaras are a tribe of acrobats and athletes some of whom wander about the country, while others have settled down as agricultural labourers or make combs, other cosmetic articles and sell them to wholesale merchants. Dommaras are notorious for dedicating their girls to become Basivis and thus are forced into religion-sanctioned prostitution.
