§ MR. SEYMOUR KEAY (Elgin and Nairn)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been directed to the case of Mr. Kunhi Kannan, deputy collector and magistrate of Calicut, in the Madras Presidency, who was some years ago tried, convicted and imprisoned on a charge of having taken a bribe from an accused person whom he had tried in his capacity as magistrate; whether he is aware that the conviction of Mr. Kunhi Kannan rested almost entirely on the evidence of this accused person, who swore that he had had to call in a certain sum which was due to him on a mortgage, which sum he had handed over to Mr. Kunhi Kannan; whether he is aware that since Mr. Kunhi Kannan's conviction evidence has been forthcoming, in the shape of proceedings in a Court of Law, which prove that the sum which was due on the mortgage has not been called in, and therefore could not possibly have been paid to Mr. Kunhi Kannan; whether he is aware that the Madras Government, on whose prosecution he was convicted, have refused to grant any inquiry into this case, or any redress for the wrongful conviction to which he declares that he can prove he has been subjected; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will take any steps to secure that an opportunity be afforded to Mr. Kunhi Kannan to establish his innocence?
§ *MR. HENRY FOWLERIn consequence of a question put by my hon. Friend the Member for East Bradford last year, this case was fully considered, and I have nothing to add to the reply which I gave on the 2nd April 1894.