§ Mr. SWANasked the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware of the opposition manifested by all parties, moderate and extreme, in India, to the Bills now before the Imperial Legislative Council; and whether, in view of the loyalty displayed by India during the War and in the hopes of ensuring a favourable atmosphere for the introduction of the Reform Bill, he would recommend the Government of India to drop those Bills, at least for the present?
§ Mr. FISHEROf the two Bills the Bill proposing certain alterations of a permanent nature in the Indian law of criminal procedure is to be referred back to local governments for consideration. The more important Bill has received the assent of the Governor-General and has become law under the title of The Anarchial and Revolutionary Crimes Act. The provisions of the Bill, as introduced, were sensibly modified during its passage in the Legal Council at the instance or with the concurrence of the Government of India, with the object of limiting the period of its operation, mitigating its penalties and giving greater opportunity to accused persons to establish their innocence. The Secretary of State regrets that the existence of an anarchial and revolutionary movement should have made it necessary to place this law on the Indian Statute Book. This action has been taken after careful consideration and on the advice of an influential and representative commission, and the Government of India are satisfied that it is essential to the peace and security of the public that the Government should be armed with these exceptional powers, to be applied only in1702W areas in which anarchial and revolutionary crime is proved to exist, and the Secretary of State is not prepared to disregard the findings of this Commission and the views of the Government of India by advising His Majesty to disallow the Act. This legislation does not, of course, reflect on, and its necessity is not affected by, the splendid loyalty of the Indians as a whole, and will affect only that small portion of the population to which it applies.