On the trail of the humble Lathi at the Mumbai Police

The Mumbai Police has a variety of modern firearms and automatic weapons, as well as a state-of-the-art counter-terrorism unit like Force One. But when it comes to controlling crowds or maintaining law and order, the humble baton is the average cop's primary weapon.

The use of the baton by officers and men of the Mumbai Police has a centuries-old history. Batons were first used on a large scale in 1673 to repel an impending invasion of Bombay by the Dutch. They continue to be used in the police force in one form or another to this day.

On June 23, 1661, the marriage contract between Charles II of England and the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza was signed. As part of the dowry agreement, the Portuguese gave the British the islands of Bombay and Tangier in Africa, free trading privileges and advantages, and two million Portuguese crowns.

This is how Bombay, now Mumbai, came into British possession. Naturally, the British ruler had little use for these malaria- and mangrove-infested islands, which he took possession of in 1665, and leased them to the East India Company in 1668 for a symbolic rent of 10 pounds, making it perhaps the cheapest real estate deal in world history.

The East India Company needed a force to maintain order. In 1669, Gerald Aungier, the governor of Bombay (1669-1677), set up a 500-strong force of irregulars, the so-called “Bhandari Militia”, to maintain law and order. This militia, which later became the Mumbai Police, was the only protection for the residents against the attacks of bandits and criminals.

In his book Bombay City Police: A Historical Sketch 1672-1916, former police commissioner SM Edwardes writes that the majority of this force consisted of Portuguese Eurasians, who were referred to as black Christians, Muslims and Hindus of various castes such as the Sinays or Shenvis (Saraswats), Corumbeens (Kunbis), Coolys (Kolis) and of course the Bhandaris after whom the militia was named. The British introduced a kind of conscription for all landowners, except the Brahmins and Banias, who were exempted from conscription on payment of a cash fee. Subedars were stationed at Mahim, Sewree and Sion.

Tensions between Britain and the Netherlands in Europe led the Dutch to send a fleet under Rijckloff van Goens (1619–1682), Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, to attack Bombay in 1673. This fleet, carrying 6,000 men, arrived off the port of Bombay on 22 February 1673, with the intention of surprising the city.

It was now left to Aungier to save the day. The troops on the island were outnumbered and the Dutch had blocked the supply and shipping routes to Mumbai, so it was not possible to call for help from headquarters in Surat. He had only 300 English soldiers, 400 topasses (Portuguese militiamen, mainly gunners and artillerymen) and the 500 men of the Bhandari militia to defend the fort. This 500-strong force has also been described in other sources as “an army of natives, consisting of 500 Mohammedans and Rajputs”.

This was not the first time that the Dutch had attacked the islands of Bombay. Historian JRB Jeejeebhoy writes that about 40 years before the marriage treaty was concluded, the British in Surat found that the Portuguese were blockading Ormuz and causing great damage to their trade with Persia. They decided to join forces with the Dutch and attack the Portuguese.

In 1626, a combined Anglo-Dutch squadron had attacked a strong Portuguese fleet under Nuno Alvarez Bothelo and, after a long and bitter battle, forced him to retreat to Sumari near Surat. He then came to Bombay.

The Anglo-Dutch fleet, led by the Dutch general Harman Van Speult and the English navigator David Davies, rushed to Bombay and found that the Portuguese ships had fled. On October 14, 1626, two ships, the British “Morris” and the Dutch “Mauritius”, began bombarding Bombay and driving the inhabitants inland. They landed on the coast, burned the houses and captured the Great House or Bombay Castle, which is located behind the present town hall in Fort. The attackers looted and set fire to all the houses and withdrew on October 16. The memories of this attack caused fear among the people of the city and feared another imminent attack.

However, Aungier remained calm and rose to the occasion. A contemporary observer said that Aungier made the necessary preparations “with the calm of a philosopher and the courage of a centurion.” His masterpiece was a demonstration of power that went far beyond the reality on the ground.

Heavy guns were mounted on the fortifications and 60 light field guns were kept ready. To give the guns mounted on the fort a clear view, the houses and buildings in the line of fire were destroyed. Three warships and five French ships were also in the harbor.

More importantly, as former Deputy Commissioner of Police and police historian Rohidas Dusar wrote in the magazine 'Dakshata' in 2000, about 300 able-bodied men, most of whom were Bhandaris, were selected and provided with the red uniform, which was the standard equipment of the Bhandari militia. These men were given clubs or lathis and a whip (koyta) as weapons. Another 1,000 men, most of whom were Bhandaris, Shenvis, Kunbis, Kolis, Malis and Agaris, were selected and provided with similar uniforms and headgear, and strong lathis.

The men of the newly recruited auxiliary force were asked to stand in military formation at a certain distance to demonstrate their strength. Aungier and his officers ensured that the cannons and field guns, and the movements of the men around these guns, were visible to the invading Dutch troops. The men were asked to move the lathis to look like muskets. Aungier himself went to vantage points such as a thickly forested hillock on Malabar Hill (the area around the present Raj Bhavan) to observe the movements of the Dutch navy with a monocular.

The Dutch navy was in the Backbay (the sea in front of what is now Marine Drive), and when Rijkloffe Van Goens attempted to land in Mahim Bay, Aungier marched there and positioned his troops along the coast to resist the attack.

Jeejeebhoy says, “The Dutch were evidently afraid of facing the English” and were also discouraged because Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj refused to help them. So they sailed on 4 March 1673. 11 March 1673 was observed as a day of thanksgiving because the Bombay Islands had been saved from Dutch invasion.

When the Treaty of Westminster was signed between England and Holland on February 17, 1674, the people of Mumbai breathed a sigh of relief. Since then, the lathi was used liberally by the men of the Bhandari militia, including the Governor's bodyguards. It became their main weapon.

Gradually, the shape of the lathi changed and batons and fiberglass lathis came into being. But even today, it remains a part of the arsenal of the Mumbai Police, which is a testament to its usefulness.

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