§ MR. O'DONNELLasked the Under Secretary of State for India, If the Government have recently received any representations on behalf of the ex-Zemindar of Palconda; on what charge a child of eleven years, the present ex-Zemindar of Palconda, was condemned, in 1832, by the British authorities in India to imprisonment for life; if it is true that the prisoner was only released in 1869, after suffering an imprisonment of thirty-seven years; if any investigation or inquiry into the justice of such an imprisonment took place at any time during the thirty-seven years; if any appeal to any court of justice was open to the prisoner during this period; what compensation, if any, has been paid by the Indian Government to the released prisoner; and, whether natives of India, without distinction, sex, or age, can be imprisoned at the pleasure of the authorities for an indefinite period, and how many such prisoners are now in the custody of Government?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSSir, firstly, Viziaram, half-brother of the last Zemindar of Palconda, has submitted to the Secretary of State two Petitions for the restoration of the estate forfeited for rebellion by the last Zemindar in 1832; secondly, Viziaram, with other members of his family, was ordered, under Regulation 11 of 1819, to reside at the Fort of Vellore, because it was deemed necessary for the peace of the country to remove the family from the neighbeurhood of the Zemindary of Palconda; thirdly, he was permitted to leave Velloro in 1869; fourthly, the then Governor of Madras, Sir Frederick Adam, reviewed the case in 1839; fifthly, the High Court of Madras, on a suit brought by Viziaram in 1879 to recover the estate, decided that his detention at Vellore did not deprive him of his power to institute proceedings; sixthly, no compensation is due to Viziaram, who receives a pension of 250 rupees a-month; seventhly, I must refer the hon. Member for Dunearvan to a Return presented and 1415 printed on the 26th of April last, which shows that there are 47 State prisoners in India, and which also gives the authority for the confinement of each.