Light Writing on the Lathi Raj: Bombay, 1930–31

Abstract

This article explores the intersection between policing and photography in the course of the Civil Disobedience Movement in colonial Bombay in 1930–31 by focusing on historical photographs compiled in a recently discovered album. When the ‘disobedient’ men, women and children of Bombay repeatedly challenged the colonial state by breaking laws deemed unjust under the leadership of Mohandas K. Gandhi, they came into direct confrontation with the most visible expression of imperial authority: the cross-racial Bombay Police armed with the ubiquitous baton (lathi). While Indian historiography is particularly rich in its exploration of both exceptional and quotidian forms of colonial violence, the visual history of violent policing remains underexplored. Through our analysis of photographic images from two specific episodes of the disobedient drama that unfolded in Bombay in 1930–the raids at the salt pans in Wadala in June, and the national flag salutation ceremony at the Esplanade in October–we explore the complex and conspicuous entanglement of race and gender in a moment of heightened anti-colonial action and police violence in British India. In underscoring the work of the camera in documenting the history of violent police action against non-violent civil demonstrators, we reveal its role as a historical actor and an active participant in history-making.