§ MR. C. J. O'DONNELL (Newington, Walworth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if his attention has been drawn to the petition of J. L. Nundy, a merchant's clerk, supported by four other persons, three being Brahmins, to the commissioner of police, Calcutta, in which he states that when returning from his office on the 31st January, near the Bowbazar police station, he saw a number of constables, some in uniform 444 and some in undress, abruptly come out of the station and beat the passers-by indiscriminately with belts, batons, and staves, and that he was knocked down insensible and received scalp wounds; whether he has any official information showing that this action of the police was due to some students, coming from a meeting of protest against partition, singing a national but not seditious song, called "Bande Materam," or "Hail to our Motherland"; and whether forcible repression of public meetings has been reported from many towns and villages in Eastern Bengal.
MR, JOHN MORLEYNo information has reached me as to the statements contained in the Question, but I will see that the attention of the Government of India is drawn to them. As regards the last paragraph of the Question, the Government of India are awaiting a full report on the subject from the Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam.