A study of Kotwali police station in Jaipur: a century of crime and culture | Jaipur News

A police station may seem an unlikely custodian of artifacts. Yet in the busy streets of the old city lies a dimly lit room with a unique treasure trove from the history of the Pink City.
Within the walls of the Kotwali Police Stationthe city’s oldest police station, established in 1926, thousands of pages are bundled in thick red archive books that chronicle nearly a century of Jaipur’s past.
One FIR from 1926 details the theft of a bag of grain, while another from the 1930s recounts the loss of a valuable pen. These books contain reports of fairs, festivals, neighborhood disputes over property lines, cattle thefts and more. One faded entry even mentions a complaint about a stolen copper lota (small water vessel) – an everyday item, but valuable enough at the time to report it to the police.
Over the years, Kotwali police station has witnessed the transformation of the city, from the days when horses roamed the streets to the construction of metro tracks. Within its walls are the carefully recorded chronicles of not only criminal cases, but also glimpses of the culture, customs and community life of Jaipur.
One official, who was the SHO of Kotwali and now posted as additional SP in the city, reflected on the evolution of the crimes documented in the FIRs. “We used to record thefts of horses. As times changed it shifted to bicycles and then to mopeds, in more modern times we see thefts of bicycles and cars,” he said.
One of the first entries mentions a petty theft: a 50 paisa coin. While this amount may seem trivial today, it was large enough at the time to warrant an official complaint. Like a time capsule, this data provides not only a record of crimes, but also a window into the daily lives and values ​​of the people of Jaipur across generations.
The registers, many of which date from the station’s founding, although pale and fragile, remain largely intact. They include a variety of languages: mainly Urdu, in addition to some Persian (Farsi), Hindi and regional dialects such as Marwari and Jaipuri.
These documents, written with ink, pencil and fountain pens, go beyond cataloging crimes. They reflect a rich picture of daily life in Jaipur.
The officials said that the FIRs were recorded verbatim at the time. This meant that not only the incident was recorded, but also the exact words and language of the complainant. This practice resulted in a remarkable variety of languages ​​and dialects.
The project to preserve these ancient documents began in 2012 and was completed in August 2013. The arduous task took a heavy toll on the health of the police personnel concerned as many developed respiratory problems due to the dust accumulated on the old papers.
A team of officers spent several hours carefully sorting these documents, year after year, before carefully binding them into registers. One of the biggest challenges they faced was the lack of proper storage space.
“We had no shelves to store these documents,” said an official. To solve this problem, they raised money from Community Liaison Group (CLG) members and private donations to build sturdy, glass-shielded wooden cabinets to protect and preserve these historic documents.
Several historical artefacts, ranging from antique weapons from the pre-independence era to gazettes of various princely states and police uniforms, are currently spread across various locations in Rajasthan, including the Rajasthan Police Academy (RPA). There is a need for a dedicated police museum in Jaipur to preserve and display these pieces of history. The idea was initially proposed to the state government in 2018 but is yet to see the light of the day.