§ 6. Mr. W. BAKERasked the Under-Secretary of State for India the result of his inquiry concerning the incident at Diburgarh, when a man named Rasih Nandi was sentenced by the first-class magistrate to receive 15 stripes, but the warder whose duty it was to execute the order inflicted the stripes on another prisoner, Ghana Mahut, whose case was still pending; whether a full inquiry has been held into the incident; and what steps the Government propose to take in the matter?
§ Earl WINTERTONThe facts of the case as reported by the local Government are briefly as follows:—Two persons were charged together with theft, one of whom, a boy aged 15, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 stripes with a cane on the hands to be administered forthwith in Court. Both the accused persons were in the dock together, and the constable in charge handed over the wrong prisoner by error, with the result that the latter received four or five strokes on the hand before the magistrate detected the error. The man whipped in error was also found guilty of participation in the theft, and in consideration of the mistake was given three months less sentence by the magistrate than he otherwise would have received—nine months instead of a year. The local Government has censured the magistrate for failing to exercise due care and attention. It appears that no substantial miscarriage of justice occurred.