Laxman Gaikwad's ‘the branded’: A voice against the oppressive structures

Laxman Gaikwad's Marathi autobiography Uchalya translated into English as The Branded:Uchalya is a Sahitya Akademi award-winning work. It throws light on the community which was branded as criminal community under the provisions of the Criminal Tribes’ Act of 1871. After independence, though the Criminal Tribes’ Act of 1871 has been repealed by the Indian constitution, the people from the uchalya community still carry the stigma of being born to a criminal tribe and are exploited by the people from the upper caste/class. Laxman Gaikwad narrates the plight of the uchalya community and the oppressive structures that compel the uchalya community to enter into the profession of thieving, pick-pocketing, cheating and pilfering. The present paper is written with an aim to bring to the fore the pains of the uchalya community in the autobiography and how it becomes the voice against the oppressive structures prevalent in Indian society.