DR. RUTHERFORD (Middlesex, Brentford)I beg to ask the Undersecretary of State for India whether he is aware that the Thakur Bahadur Singh, a noble of the State of Bikanir, was dismissed arbitrarily from the office of member of the Bikanir State Council in the year 1905, and ordered to reside under surveillance in his house in the 751 city of Bikanir; that he was brought before the Maharajah of that State on 6th April last, and, without any charge being framed or furnished to him, deported from the State and placed in confinement in the neighbouring State of Jaipur, and that he is still kept in confinement there, without trial or investigation of any sort; and whether inquiries will be instituted by the Government into these matters in order that justice may be secured.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. BUCHANAN,.) Perthshire,EThakur Bahadur Singh was removed from the Bikanir State Council in consequence of the part played by him in the events which led to the mprisonment of three leading Thakurs of the State in January, 1905. The condition of residence in the town of Bikanir was imposed upon the Thakur in 1888, when he was permitted to return to the Bikanir State, from which he had been expelled five years previously for rebellion against the State. In November, 1907, the Maharajah of Bikanir represented that Thakur Bahadur Singh had violated the conditions on which he had been permitted to return to Bikanir, and had been taking part in intrigues against the State. His Highness, therefore, proposed that the Thakur should again be banished from Bikanir, and the Government of India gave their assent to this course in March, 1908. I have no information as to the arrangements made for the Thakur's residence outside the Bikanir State. The case in these circumstances does not seem to the Secretary of State one for inquiry.