Slavery in India - Early Modern Period: 1800 CE To 2000 CE

Early Modern Period: 1800 CE To 2000 CE

The arrival of the British East India Company and the imposition of crown rule following the Indian Rebellion in 1857 along with the influence of the British anti-slavery society of William Wilberforce eventually brought slavery and the slave markets to an end in India. According to Sir Henry Bartle Frere (who sat on the Viceroy's Council), there were an estimated 8,000,000 or 9,000,000 slaves in India in 1841. In Malabar, about 15% of the population were slaves. Slavery was abolished in modern India by the Indian Slavery Act V. of 1843. Provisions of the Indian Penal Code of 1861 formally tried to abolish slavery in India by making the enslavement of human beings a criminal offense. However, as late as August, 1873, there are newspaper reports indicating forms in which slavery appeared to survive. The case reported refers to Sylhet, (now part of Bangladesh) where polygamy was widely practised, and wives, sisters and daughters were sometimes surrendered to a rich man or a debtor to be a slave for life. The newspaper further notes that the purchase and sale of slaves in the traditional way had not yet altogether disappeared. In 1998, the Indian government said in a report, according to CNN, "the region is prone to what it calls 'atrocities,' including the buying and selling of women."