§ SIR M. BHOWNAGGREE (Bethnal Green, N.E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that Lord Hartington, as Secretary of State for India in 1881, in Mr. Gladstone's Government, forwarded a Dispatch to the Government of India, suggesting that the existing defect in the Indian Penal Code, namely, the explanation to Section 124A, which made it ineffective against seditious and libellous writings, should be remedied; whether this recommendation of Mr. Gladstone's Government to strengthen the law of seditious libel was ever acted upon; and if it was not, whether Her Majesty's Government, having regard to the grave results which have followed upon the seditious writings in the vernacular press, will 1478 recommend the Government of India to introduce legislation without further delay in the manner suggested in Lord Hartington's Dispatch?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONI am aware that it was suggested by the Secretary of State in Council in 1881, that if it were the case that the Criminal Law of India applicable to seditious libel was practically unworkable through the effect of the explanation attached to Section 124A, the existing defect in the code might be remedied by the suitable amendment of some of its provisions. For various reasons, such amendment has from tune to time been postponed; but, as I have already stated, the question of legislation on this subject is now being considered afresh.