ABSTRACT

This article examines colonial debates over infanticide in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century India, including the question of whether new legislation should be introduced to target the crime. Such debates were complicated by Britain’s colonial obsession with specifically eradicating female infanticide, seen as a core element of the so-called ‘civilizing mission’, and the reluctance of authorities to acknowledge that in many cases of Indian child homicide, the experiences of single or widowed women facing an unwanted pregnancy had parallels with infanticide cases that were prosecuted in England and Wales. Drawing in particular on India Office records, the article demonstrates the profound impact of these ongoing tensions and concerns in shaping colonial policy and law. Ultimately, despite a degree of support for such a measure from both indigenous and colonial commentators, this tension made passing an Indian equivalent to the English Infanticide Act 1922 impossible in the interwar period.

摘要

本文考察了 19 世纪末和 20 世纪初印度关于杀婴的殖民辩论，包括是否应该引入新的立法来针对这一罪行的问题。英国对专门消灭女性的殖民痴迷使这种辩论变得复杂。杀婴，被视为所谓“文明使命”的核心要素，以及当局不愿承认在许多印度儿童凶杀案中，单身或寡妇面临意外怀孕的经历与杀婴案件相似在英格兰和威尔士被起诉。这篇文章特别引用了印度办公室的记录，展示了这些持续的紧张局势和担忧对塑造殖民政策和法律的深远影响。最终，尽管土著和殖民地评论员都对这种措施给予了一定程度的支持，但这种紧张局势使得在两次世界大战期间不可能通过相当于 1922 年英国杀婴法案的印第安人。