§ 1. Mr. BAKERasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that the president (Mr. Pathik) and the secretary (Mr. Chodhri) of the Society of Servants of Rajasthan have been arrested on the grounds of sedition; that Mr. Pathik is still awaiting trial, although arrested about eight months ago; that the society in question is nonviolent and law-abiding, and is formed for 2 the mutual service of villagers, and that peaceful and unarmed men and women have been suddenly attacked and beaten with lathis at Amergarh and twice fired on at Begun; and whether he will cause inquiries to be made into the circumstances which gave rise to these incidents?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Mr. Richards)I am not at present in possession of official information in regard to all these matters; but I have seen a report that Mr. Pathik was arrested by the authorities of the Udaipur State in September last in connection with recent disturbances in that State and in Bundi. I understand that in both States the local troops and police forces had to repel attacks made by armed mobs, and that the disturbances were provoked by Mr. Pathik and other outside agitators. I observe that, in answer to a question on this subject in the Legislative Assembly on the 25th March, the Government of India promised to make inquiries into the circumstances of the arrests, and I will ask them to let me know the results of those inquiries.
§ Colonel Sir CHARLES YATEAre native States themselves not perfectly entitled to withstand any attack?