Ixxii 



We have instances of torture being freely practised in every relation 

 of domestic life. Servants are thus treated by their masters and fellow 

 servants ; children by their parents and schoolmasters for the most 

 trifling offences ; the very plays of the populace (and the point of a 

 rude people's drama is its satire) excite the laughter of man}^ a rural 

 audience by the exhibition of revenue squeezed out of a defaulter coin 

 by coin through the appliance of familiar " provacatives " under the 

 superintendence of a caricatured Tahsildar ; it seems a " time-honored " 

 institution, and we cannot be astonished if the practice is still widely 

 prevalent among the ignorant uneducated class of native public servants. 



* ♦ * • 



Among the principal tortures in vogue in Police cases we find the 

 following : twisting a rope tightly round the entire arm or leg so as to 

 impede circulation ; lifting up by the moustache ; suspending by the 

 arms while tied behind the back ; searing with hot iron ; placing scratch- 

 ing insects such as the carpenter beetle, on the navel, scrotum and 

 other sensitive parts ; dipping in wells and rivers till the party is half 

 suffocated ; squeezing the testicles ; beating with sticks ; prevention of 

 sleep ; nipping the flesh with pincers ; putting pepper or red chillies in 

 the eyes ; these cruelties occasionally persevered in until death sooner 

 or later ensues. 



* * « » 



In the course of this investigation there is one thing which has 

 impressed us even more painfully than the conviction that torture 

 exists ; it is difficulty of obtaining redress which confronts the injured 

 parties. 



In stating this melancholy fact we are very far from seeking to cast 

 any unfounded imputation upon either the Grovernment or its European 

 officers. We think that the service is entitled to the fullest credit for 

 its disclaimer of all countenance of the cruel practices which prevail 

 in the Revenue as well as in the Police department. We see no reason 

 to doubt that the native officials from the highest to the lowest are well 

 aware of the disposition of their European superiors ; and although 

 very many of the parties, who have appeared before us in reply to our 

 nquiry why they have not made an earlier complaint, have asked what 

 s the use of appealing to the Collector, we have seen nothing to 

 rapress us with the belief that the people at large entertain an idea 

 that their maltreatment is countenanced or tolerated by the European 

 officers of Government. On the contrary all they seem to desire is that 

 the Europeans in their respective districts should themselves take up 

 and investigate complaints brought before them. The distances which 

 the natives will often travel at great personal loss and inconvenience to 

 make complaints even of a very petty nature to the Collector or Sub- 

 CoUector is of itself a proof of the confidence which they place gene- 

 rally in those officers. The abstinence of the native officials from such 

 practices in or near stations where Europeans, be they civilians, 

 surgeons, commissariat or other officers, reside, and the prevalence of 

 torture increasing in proportion as the taluk appears less exposed to 

 European scrutiny, are strong arguments in favor of a consciousness 

 on the part of the native officials that they cannot with impunity resort 

 to illegal and personal violence when it admits of easy and speedy 

 substantiation before the European authorities of the district ; and the 



