§ 2. Sir WILLIAM BYLESasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether in connection with the Poona police torture case, one of the policemen who took part in torturing these peasants had been previously sentenced to a long term of imprisonment for inflicting gross torture on other persons; if so, whether he will explain how this man came to be in a position to join in the Poona crime; and whether it is the intention of the Government of India to make any amendment in the existing law which permits confessions obtained by the police from accused persons to be used against them at their trial after having been recorded as voluntary by a magistrate?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Mr. Montagu)The police sub-inspector to whom my hon. Friend refers, was sentenced in September, 1911, to eight years rigorous imprisonment for a crime committed on the 27th March, 1911. Subsequently he was found to have been implicated in another crime committed on the 4th March, 1911. The facts of this case was not brought to light for some time and a conviction was not obtained till February of this year. As regards an alteration of the law, the Government of India are considering the views of local governments and hope soon to arrive at a decision.
§ Mr. MORRELLMay I ask how long the Government of India have been en- 1790 gaged in the revision of the Criminal Code, and when it is likely to be completed?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI think when a question was last asked in this House the Government had submitted the proposal to the local governments, and were awaiting the reply of the local governments. Now the local governments have answered, and their reply is under the consideration of the Government of India. It is necessarily a long matter to consult the local councils, and I hope a decision will be shortly arrived at.
§ Mr. MORRELLIn the last five years were there not fifty-seven cases in which police officers have been found guilty up to the present of torturing prisoners, and in one year eight persons died?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI am sorry to say cases of torture do occur in India. I am glad also to say they have been diminishing.
§ Sir J. D. REESHave not the cases brought home to the police been exceedingly small in number? And is there not general evidence of great improvement in the Indian police?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe cases brought home to the Indian police are a very small number indeed. Cases of torture do still occur, and the only satisfaction we can find, and it is not much satisfaction, is that they are diminishing.
§ 3. Sir WILLIAM BYLESasked the Under-Secretary whether he has official information with regard to the Poona police torture case recently tried before the additional Sessions judge and an Indian jury, in which four policemen were convicted of torturing three respectable Indian peasants for the purpose of extorting a confession of robbery from them; whether he is aware that it was proved to the satisfaction of the judge and jury that the charge was deliberately concocted by the police, and that the stolen property was found afterwards on the real thieves, who were convicted in Bombay; whether the torture inflicted on these peasants was described by the Crown Prosecutor as revolting to humanity, and included stringing up one peasant by a rope passed through his fingers to a beam and lashing him till he became unconscious, and in the case of the others forcing their arms through their legs to their toes and keeping them for hours in that position, and in depriving them of sleep for four days and 1791 four nights, and compelling them to dig in a field for the alleged stolen property which was proved in fact to have been buried there by the police for the express purpose of bolstering up the extorted confession; whether the confessions extorted by these tortures were recorded as voluntary confessions by a third class honorary magistrate, who questioned the accused in the presence of the policemen who had inflicted the tortures without making any adequate examination of the bodies of the accused, and who then remanded the accused to the custody of the same policemen; and, if so, what steps have been taken by the Government of India to prevent the repetition of such occurrences, and what compensation has been awarded to the three British subjects who suffered such wrongs at the hands of the magistrate and the police?
§ Mr. MONTAGUMy hon. Friend's recital of the facts is, I regret to say, substantially correct. The victims of ill-treatment have been awarded pecuniary compensation of Rs. 100 each and the prisoners sentenced to heavy terms of rigorous imprisonment. The anxiety of the Government to prevent such cases has been shown by their continuous efforts to raise the status of the police and improve the supervising staff, to disallow the judging of police work by statistics of convictions, to make the supervision of lockups and the examination of prisoners' condition more rigorous, to insist on extra precautions (which in this case an Indian honorary magistrate disregarded) in recording confessions, and to publish widely all cases in which policemen are convicted of ill-treatment. We are inquiring of the Government of India what steps they propose to take with regard to the conduct of the honorary magistrate.
§ Sir W. BYLESWill the magistrate be removed from his office, and also whether in future no evidence of confession will be taken except by the tribunal which tries the case?
§ Mr. MONTAGUIn regard to the first part of the question, all I am in a position to say now is that we are inquiring from the Government of India what steps they propose to take. With regard to the second part of the question I answered it in the last part of my answer just now.
§ Mr. MORRELLIs it not a fact that the Government have been advised by the 1792 Inspector-General of police in Bombay that the only effective means of stopping torture would be the means suggested by my hon. Friend, namely, that no confession should be permitted except when made in open Court before the judge who tries the case?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI am not aware of that.
§ Colonel YATEAre not the police all native Indians?
§ Mr. MONTAGUYes; the police concerned are native Indians.
§ Sir J. D. REESHave not the provincial Governments reported favourably of the police as a body?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI have not seen the reports of the local governments; at present they are under the consideration of the Government.