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Sleemnabad remembers its British hero
Even 150 years after his death, people here keep an earthen lamp burning at a temple in memory of British police officer Sir William Henry Sleeman.
Even 150 years after his death, people here keep an earthen lamp burning at a temple in memory of British police officer Sir William Henry Sleeman.
Sleemnabad in Katni district is like any other town of India - people chatting at tea stalls, cows vying with vehicles for space on roads and crowded markets. But then, the history of the town is uniquely entwined with Sleeman.
It was in 1820 that Sleeman settled in neighbouring Jabalpur district as a police officer.
"At that time, this whole area was covered with forests but the highway connecting north and south India passed from here. Being in central India, the area was the nerve-centre of thugs," said Devesh Kumar Pathak, a police officer.
The thugs had been killing unwary travellers on highways for money for over 1,000 years. A silk handkerchief with which they strangled travellers and took away their money and valuables was apparently their only weapon.
But neither the British rulers nor the Indian states at that time were interested in action against the thugs, fearing a backlash from Hindus as the thugs were worshippers of Hindu goddess Kali.
So Sleeman began collecting information about them meticulously. He got so involved in studying the activities of the thugs that his friends nicknamed him Thug Sleeman.
On getting a green signal from the Governor General of India Lord William Bentinck, Sleeman launched an operation against the thugs and was able to eliminate all gangs within 20 years of his stay in Jabalpur.
A four-cornered memorial at Sleemnabad police station tells people about the life of Sleeman and the thugs.
A banyan tree also stands close to the boundary wall of the police station and, according to folklore, convicted thugs were hanged from the branches of this very tree.
No doubt the history of police in India is incomplete without mentioning Sleeman. Indian police forces will remember Sleeman for centuries to come because he was the founder and first head of the anti-thug and anti-dacoit department, an intelligence-collecting agency and not simply an agency for investigation.
The department continued functioning till the end of the 19th century. In the year 1902, the All India Police Commission recommended that the department be converted into a Central Criminal Intelligence Department to give it a higher status and widen its scope of work.
The department, with a new name, came up in 1904. In the year 1917, the word criminal was dropped as by then the bulk of the intelligence collected by it no longer related to criminal activities only.
In 1920, the department came to be known as Central Intelligence Bureau and the same name continues even today. When India became free and the constitution was framed, the Intelligence Bureau was given constitutional status.
The Intelligence Bureau, in remembrance of its illustrious founder, established a library and named it Sleeman Library in Shivpuri district of north Madhya Pradesh.
The library not only has records and books connected with Sleeman's life but also other books and historical papers dealing with India in the 19th century, which provide a valuable insight into social, economic and political life.
Apart from being an able police officer, Sleeman was very humane and it is because of his altruism that people of Sleemnabad still remember him fondly and consider him a hero.
Sleeman was greatly pained by the plight of farmers, who were victimised by landlords and moneylenders. He bought 96 acres of land and settled the farmers. The farmers named the place Sleemnabad as a mark of respect to the police officer.
Sleeman died Feb 10, 1856, on a ship in Sri Lanka on his way to England and ever since, the people of Sleemnabad have kept an earthen lamp burning at a temple in his memory.
To this day, Sleeman's grandson and great grandson visit the town every year to pay homage to him. "They had come in February this year too," said Sukhlal a native of the area.
