§ SIR H. COTTONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he has issued orders prohibiting the practice of handcuffing political prisoners in India while under trial; and whether he will take into consideration the further 39 question of the treatment of political prisoners after conviction, and direct that they should not be classed with felons and criminals, but treated as misdemeanants.
§ MR. MORLEYI have asked the Government of India to give instructions that prisoners under trial should not be handcuffed unless there is a reasonable expectation that they will use violence, or that an attempt will be made to rescue them. I will consider the question of treatment after conviction; but, as the hon. Member is aware, the only distinction known to Indian law is that between simple and rigorous imprisonment.