§ 44. Mr. SAKLATVALAasked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he has now received any Report of the magisterial inquiry into the shooting of railway men in the Lillooah district at Bamangachi; and whether the superior 1031 European staff was called out to take part, and did take part, in shooting the Indian workers on strike?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Earl Winterton)Two inquiries were made by the District Magistrate. One was a judicial inquiry into certain complaints made by strikers, which were dismissed as unfounded; the other was a Departmental inquiry into the whole case. Both the order passed in the judicial inquiry and the Report in the Departmental inquiry, which is submitted through the Commissioner, were delayed owing to the magistrate's illness. My Noble Friend has just learnt that an advance copy of the Report has now been received and is being considered by the Government of Bengal. The European staff was not called out to take part, and did not take part, in the firing.
§ Mr. SAKLATVALAWill the Noble Lord explain whether the Press reports about the magisterial inquiry are correct, and which conflicting reports are correct and which are wrong as to the guilt of the Army officer in conducting the shooting operations?
§ Earl WINTERTONAt the judicial inquiry the magistrate found that the complaints were not justified, and criticised in strong terms the manner in which they were brought forward. Also, according to the Press reports, in the course of certain obiter dicta he referred to the action of one of the British officers concerned, but I am not prepared to make any statement upon the actual words he used till I have seen the full Report, which will reach us from the Government of India.