§ 8. Mr. THURTLEasked the Under-Secretary of State for India the number of persons, if any, who are at present under one form of restraint or another, without having been publicly tried, under the Bengal Criminal Ordinance or Regulation III of 1818?
§ Earl WINTERTONThere are six persons detained under Regulation III of 1818, as I informed the hon. Member in answer to a question on 2nd August. These have no connection with Bengal. All the persons who have from time to time been arrested or detained under the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act have been released, but 31 of them are still under obligation to report their residence, or to report themselves periodically to the authorities, or to abstain from specified action—that is, they have been released under one or other of the conditions provided in Section 11 of the Act.
§ Mr. THURTLECan the Noble Lord say whether the eight persons who are being held under the Regulation can be described as political prisoners or not?
§ Earl WINTERTONI should have to have notice of that question, but I may point out that the number is not eight, but six.