HC Deb 10 April 1933 vol 276 cc2178-9
42 and 43. Mr. MAXTON (for Mr. McGOVERN)

asked the Home Secretary (1) whether the passport of Mr. G. S. Dara, Congress secretary and editor of United India, who resides in London, has been found to be in order; and if he can state the reasons for police visits being made on this man;

(2) If he can state the number of occasions that police visits were made on Mr. G. S. Dara, Congress secretary and editor of United India, who resides in London?

Sir J. GILMOUR

I understand that a passport was issued to Mr. Dana by the Passport Office in 1930, current for the normal period of five years. Two visits have been paid to Mr. Dara by the police, one in 1928, in connection with a case then being investigated in India about which the Metropolitan Police had been asked to make inquiries, and one in 1932, following a suggestion which had arisen that his passport was not in order. On the latter occasion, as stated in reply to a question by the hon. Member on the 7th July, 1932, an interview was sought as the simplest and most expeditious method of clearing up the point, but Mr. Dara declined to make an appointment and the passport consequently has not been examined.