Report On The Administration Of Criminal Justice In The Punjab And Its Dependencies For The Year 1866

· 1867 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

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2of persons prosecuted for assaults or for the allied offences of causing hurt or

3using criminal foree was 26,197. That a large proportion of the charges were

4vroundless or should never have been brought into Court may be inferred

5from the result of the prosecutions. Thus, of the 26,197 persons prosecuted,

6the charges against, 6,152 were withdrawn by the complainants themselves,

7and only 10,864 or considerably less than one-half the number prosecuted

8were convicted and punished. Th® following districts are conspicuous for the

9large number of persons prosecuted for assaults, causing hurt, and use of

10criminal force :—~

11No. of persons, No. of persons Nog. of persons tho

12charges against whom

13Districts.

14prosecuted. convicted. wero withdrawn.

15Umritsur,.. .. 1,787 936 188

16Rawulpindee, .. 1,714 431 724

17Goordaspoor, .. .. 1,389 452 519

18Peshawur, os one 1,298 708 0

19Goojranwalla, .. .. 1,259 463 46

20Umballa, . 1,215 493 443

21Shahpoor,.. .. 1,190 337 298

22Lahore, .. +8 oe» 1,127 647 159

23Delp. «« = 1,072 313 AAT

24Kangra, .. .«.

251,057 330 87

2610, Not only do these frivolous and vexatious complaints needlessly

27occupy much of the time of the Courts, but they are a

28hese frivolous and vevxa-

29Lions complaints a source of MEANS of much annoyance, inconvenience, and expense

30to many innocent persons, whether as witnesses or as

31accused, T'rom their desire to keep such cases out of Court, some officcrs are

32occasionally betrayed info irregular practices. The Judicial Commissioner in

33last, year’s report quoted the remark of the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi, that

34some district officers with ao view to saving the valuable time of their

35subordinates were in the habit of rojecting every complaint of assault off-

36hand on the Urzee when the petitioner did not bear on his person the

37evident marks of ill-usage. So Major Mercer, Deputy Commissioncr of