(The) Wicked city : crime and punishment in colonial Calcutta / by Sumanta Banerjee

Includes bibliography and index.

PART I: HATCHING THE PLOT: EXPLORING THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF CRIME: The trailblazers -- Calcutta's white underworld -- Journeys through the lower depths -- Killers: violent and silent -- House-breakers, thieves and pilferers -- Swindlers and forgers -- Embezzlers and gamblers -- Smugglers, drug-pushers and poisoners -- Underworld heroines and their children -- The contest over public space -- PART II: SMASHING THE PLOT: PUNISHING, DISCIPLINING AND ORDERING: The beginnings -- Rise and growth of the police -- Subalterns of the Calcutta Police -- Arrival of the Bengali sleuth -- The web of criminal prosecution -- Jail: the meeting ground of criminology and penology -- Concluding reflections