§ Sir HENRY COTTONasked the Under-Secretary for India whether Inspector Sherafat Ali Choudhry, of the Criminal Investigation Department in Eastern Bengal and Assam, whose conduct as a police officer was recently arraigned by the High Court in the Comilla shooting case, the Nattore mail robbery case, and the Tezpur murder case, is still employed in the service of the Government; and whether this officer is responsible for any of the information on which certain Eastern Bengal gentlemen were arrested in December last, and are still confined in gaol without charge or trial?
The UNDER-SECRETARY for INDIA (The Master of Elibank)The Secretary of State has received the following telegram from the Government of India on this question: "Inspector Choudhry is still in service of Government. The High Court made no charge against him of improper conduct in any of the three cases mentioned. He took a minor part in the investigation of the Comilla murder case, and was not mentioned in the judgment. In the Natore mail robbery case he was mentioned, but without reflection on his conduct. In the Tezpur murder case neither the High Court in ordering a retrial of the case nor the judge in his charge to the jury impugned his conduct, but accusations were brought against him in the vernacular press, and we are awaiting a report from the local Government, which we have cabled for."