Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked whether the Under-Secretary for India can make any statement as to the facts of a recent torture case at Shahdara, in the Punjab, in which a sub-inspector of police was sentenced to nine years' rigorous imprisonment by the additional district magistrate; what were the injuries inflicted by the police; whether there was an appeal against the sentence; and, if so, with what result?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe facts are that on 16th November, 1910, a man suspected of having stolen some cattle was beaten by a sub-inspector of police with a stick and by a village headman with a shoe, in order to extort a confession. The man died on the 26th November, and the postmortem examination showed his health to have been such that a beating of the nature indicated by the bruises on his body was sufficient, to cause death. The sub-inspector has been sentenced to five (not nine) years' rigorous imprisonment and the village headman to three. The prisoners have appealed to the Chief Court, but the result of the appeal is not yet known.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODCan the hon. Gentleman say whether the man made a confession after he was beaten?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe hon. Member had better put a question clown. The man died after he was beaten.