§ SIR H. COTTONI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for India if he can state what is the law in regard to transportation in India; and whether there is any authority or precedent for sending a convicted offender to the Andamans for a period of less than seven years.
§ MR. BUCHANANThe law in regard to transportation in India is contained in Sections 53, 55, 57–59 of the Indian Penal Code, and the sections of that code prescribing transportation as the penalty for particular offences. Section 124a enables the person convicted under that section to be "punished with transportation for life or any other shorter term." There is, therefore, no reason to doubt the legality of a sentence of transportation for less than seven years.
§ SIR H. COTTONIs there not a statutory rule which limits transportation to cases of seven years punishment and does not permit it in the case of persons over forty-five years of age?
§ MR. BUCHANANI am not aware of that, but I would refer my hon. friend to the various sections of the Penal Code which govern the law relating to transportation.