§ SIR HENRY FOWLER (Wolverhampton, E.)To ask the Secretary of State for India if his attention has been called to a decision of the Chief Court of Mysore, in the case of Dasappa v. Chikkamma, in which a convert to Christianity was, by reason of his change of faith, deprived of the right of guardianship over his children and of other civil rights; whether the Durbar intimated their readiness to remove by legislation these disabilities so far as they relate to rights of property; and whether any steps have been taken with respect to this legislation.
(Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) I am aware of the case referred to by my right hon. friend, which occurred in 1895, but my attention has not been called to any cases of similar hardship as having arisen since then. The Mysore Government have recognised that some action towards reducing the disabilities of converts from Hinduism is both equitable and necessary, but have added that "the exact point at which legislation ought to stop, and to what conditions and limitations the rules of inheritance of the Hindu Law when relaxed should be subjected, so as to prevent coparceners remaining in the religion of their birth from avoidable and vexatious interference and annoyance, requires most careful consideration." The Durbar, I understand, has the question still under consideration. Having regard to the views which they have expressed and to the fact that the Maharaja has only recently succeeded to administrative 562 powers, I think that the matter may be left to the Mysore Government. I may add that the" India Act XXI. of 1850 has been applied to the station at Bangalore.