§ SIR BRAMPTON GURDON (Norfolk, N.)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to paragraph 195 of the recent Report on the Province of Assam, in which it is stated that a coolie boy died from the effects of a beating believed to have been inflicted by some chaukidars, to whom he had been handed over in order that ho should be made to confess where certain property, which he was suspected of having stolen, was concealed; and whether any steps have been taken by the local administration of Assam or by the Government of India with reference to the decision of the High Court, under which trifling fines were inflicted on the manager and assistant manager of the estate, with a view to revise the punishment inflicted.
(Answered, by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) I have noticed the paragraph referred to in the Question. The case was not tried in the High Court, but in the Sessions Court for the Assam Valley, by the Judge with the assistance of a jury. I have no official information as to the facts, but will make inquiries.