Report On The Administration Of Criminal Justice In The Punjab And Its Dependencies During The Year 1882

· 1883 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

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213. Culpable homicides not amounting to murder numbered 114 in 1881 and 156

3in the year under report, the increase being most. marked in the

4ee tromicide n6t Tahore and Mooltan Divisions. Inthe earlier yeat 215 persons

5a wore tried, of whom 143, or 66 per cent., were Gouvicted. Last

6rear, out of 264 persons who were tried, only 140, or 53 per cent., were convicted. In the

7eshiwar Division only 10 persons were convicted out of 32 who were tried ; in the Mooltan

8Division 22 persons were tried and 8 convicted ; in the Rawalpindi Division the numbers

9were, 33 acquitted and discharged and 23 convicted ; while in the Umballa Division 6 persons

10were acquitted or discharged and only 2 convicted. Prosecutions were most successful in the

11Amritsar Division, where, out of 19 persons tried, 84 por cent. were convicted.

1216. Sixty-six persons were proceeded against under Section 304A during 1882,

13of whom 34 were convicted. In the preceding year, 86 persons were

14nee pusing death by rash OF hroceeded against and 49 were convicted. Reporte have been

15si a lei called for regarding last year’s convictions, as the Judges have reason

16to believe that the scope of the section is still misunderstood by many officers.

1717. Of the 4,571 cases of hurt shown in the table as having occurred during the

18Hurt, yoar under report, 712 are returned as serious, and 3,859 as

19oe minor cases, nder the former head there is an increase of 17

20cases only. Minor charges show an increase of 582 cases, but the increase 1s in prosecutions

21only. There was an actual falling-off in the number of cases which were pressed to judg-

22ment, the figures for the two years being 2,993 persons convicted and 2,307 acquitted in

231881, and 3,081 persons convicted and 2,139 acquitted in 1882. In the former year 1,808

24prosecutions were abandoned and last year 2,722, The proportion of complaints summarily

25rejected was about the same in both years.

2618. Cases of criminal force and assault also show a large increase in the number of

27prosecutions, and only a slight increase in the number of cases in

28which the prosecution was persisted in. The growing tendency in

29this province to launch prosecutions on petty charges which are ultimately abandoned is

30dwelt on in several of the local reports, and doubts are expressed as to whether it is desirable,

31to allow our Criminal Courts to be applicd to so easily in cases of this nature. Whether the

32court fee now charged on criminal complaints is sufficiently high is a matter which is certain

33to receive consideration in connection with the Court Fees Bill now before the

34Legislature. Meanwhile, it may bo observed that it does not follow that the time of a

35Criminal Court has been wasted when it has been taken up in the investigation of a

36complaint which has ultimately been withdrawn. The filing of a complaint often has the

37effoct of inducing friends to intervene who would otherwise not interest themselves, or

38loads to an offer of amends which would not otherwise be offered, and thus brings about the

39settloment of a quarrel which would under other circumstances be the cause of ill-will for

40years. No doubt, many of the grievances complained of are not proper subjects of enquiry

41for a Criminal Court, and other complaints are purely malicious. Buta brief examination of

42the complainant will often show that he has not a case for a Criminal Court, while the

43Courts have it in their power to deal severely with malicious complaints in summons

44cases by awarding substantial compensation to the persons who have beon vexatiously

45brought before them.

46Oriminal force and assault,

4719, The total numbor of offences against property, in which the charge was laid

48under Chapter XVII of the Indian Penal Code, was 29,864 in the

49past, as compared with 380,913 in the previous year. Thus, tho

50decrease of 7 per cent. which was shown in the returns for 1881 has been followed by a

51further falling-off of 3 per cent.

52Offences against property.

5320. Details of the chief heads of crime falling under this

54class are given for the last two years for each district in tho

55province in the following comparative table :—

56Variations under princi-

57pal heads noticed,