Bombay 1932 -- a rare film of old bombay

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Floating police-force1844 BOMBAY

In 1844, for example, a succession

of daring robberies was carried .out in the Harbour by gangs of criminals, who sailed round in boats from Back Bay, The most notorious of them was known as the Bandar Gang ; and their unchecked excesses led to the formation of a separate floating police-force under the control of a Deputy Superintendent

Corruption was prevalent in all ranks of the force, and most of the subordinate officers, both European and Indian, were in secret collusion with agent

in 1850

riots broke outin October, 1851, between the Parsis and Muhammadans,

in consequence of a very indiscreet article on the Muhammadan religion which was published in the Gujarati, a Parsi newspaper. The Muhammadans, incensed at the statements made about the Prophet Sphere: Related Content

The first lighting of the streets with oil lamps in 1843.

Ten years later there were said to be 50 lamps in existence, which were lighted from dusk to midnight, and the number continued to increase until October, 1865, when the first gas-lamps were lighted in the Esplanade and Bhendy -Bazar


Contemporary records indicate that the Police Office at this period (1800-1850) was located in the Fort ; the court of the -Senior Magistrate of Police was housed in a building in Forbes Street, and the court of the Second Magistrate in a house in Mazagon. The powers of both Magistrates were limited, and all cases involving sentences of more than six months' imprisonment, or affecting property valued at more than Rs. 50, had to be sent to the Court of Petty Sessions or committed to the Recorder's, subsequently the Supreme Court. The Court of Petty Sessions was composed of the two Magistrates of Police and a Justice of the Peace (the Superintendent-General of Sir J. Mackintosh's draft Regu- lation), and sat every Monday morning at 10 a. m. at the Police Office in the ForT Sphere: Related Content