Leprosy and Physical Disability in Colonial India: An Analysis of the Lepers Act of 1898

Abstract

As a minority population, people with disabilities are thought to experience stigma and discrimination in society. In India, people with disabilities were understood as cursed or sinners and frequently faced marginalization and discrimination. To understand the evolution of disability history in India, it is vital to examine how legislation plays a part. It is essential to understand elements such as rights, the legal model, and legal remedies to judge how disability was perceived and handled in Colonial India. As one of the major categories of physically disabled in Colonial India, lepers, and leper-disabled people were managed with the help of the Lepers Act of 1898. Mycobacterium leprae causes leprosy and is classified as a chronic disease maker because it frequently affects the skin, peripheral nerves, and superficial tissues. Physical disabilities are brought on by leprosy because it generates ulceration and weak muscles. The Lepers Act was enacted in 1898 in India due to colonial anxiety about infecting the European population and armed forces. The purpose of the 1898 Act was to control and limit the spread of the disease and to institutionalize beggars and lepers to maintain the social divide between upper-class Europeans and Indians, elite Indians, and lower-class disabled. The act's passage was a strategic move by the colonial government to impose leper segregation. The act amounted to gross human rights violations, especially when corporal powers were given the right to determine the future of the lepers and the disabled. The act further took away agency from a group of people who were already historically marginalized. The act was repealed in 2016 on the grounds of discrimination.