Inside his hovel of branches and rags, a grizzled pauper called Badshah Kale keeps a precious object. It is a note, scrawled by a policeman and framed by Mr Kale, proclaiming that he "is not a thief". For members of his Pardhi tribe, who are among some 6om Indians considered criminal by tradition, this is treasure.rnSquatting beside Mr Kale, on a turd-strewn wasteland outside Ashti, a village in India's western state of Maharashtra, Pardhi men and women describe what it is like to be branded criminal at birth.
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