§ MR. BRADLAUGH (Northampton)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that one Kamar-ud-din, a Mahomedan resident in Calcutta, struck a servant, ruptured the servant's spleen, and thereby caused his death; that on the trial at Alipur the jury found the prisoner guilty of simple hurt only; and that the Judge inflicted one year's rigorous imprisonment, being the maximum punishment permitted by law; and whether he is also aware that Lance Corporal Rigney, at Delhi, in like manner, ruptured the spleen of a servant, causing death, the excuse alleged for the assault being that the servant was not pulling the punkah quickly enough, and that the Magistrate, Mr. Clifford, fined the accused Rs.25 only; and whether the Secretary of State will direct the Viceroy to make inquiries as to the circumstances under which such unequal punishments were inflicted for apparently identical offences?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Sir J. GORST, Chatham)Mr. Deputy Speaker, the two cases which form the subject of the hon. Member's question were tried in different Provinces in India, and the differences in the circumstances of the two cases, which appear to be unknown to the hon. Member, might very well account for the differences of punishment awarded. The inadequacy of a sentence may, in 226 India, form ground of appeal. The Secretary of State has no information on the cases, and does not see any reason for instituting an inquiry.