Report On The Administration Of Criminal Justice In The Punjab And Its Dependencies During The Year 1877

· 1878 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1( 20 )

279. twill be secon that a larger number of witnesses were dicted during the year

3under report both by the Police and by Magistrates than in the previous year, and that the

4expenditure increased from Rs. 18,201 to Rs. 24,198. 1. tha Ludhianah and Muzaffargarh

5districts 64, per cent of. the total number of witnesses examined were dieted, at an average

6cost of about 8 annas for each witness in the Ludhiana district, and 6 annas in the Muzatfar-

7garh district. In‘Peshawur only 47 witnesses, or 0°5 per cent of the witnesses examined,

8received any allowancs, and they received an average of Ra. 1-12-0 each. In Bannu, too, the

9rates allowed both by the Police and Magistrates, and in Gujrat the rates allowed by Muagis-

10trates are far above the average rates of the Province. These great inequalities are, as has

11been often reyarked in previous reports, not satisfactory, but, without further information,

12which it Seanine Cifficult to obtain, the Judges can form no opinion as to how far tho vari-

13ations are due 40 legitimate causes and_how far to the idiosyncracies of individtal officers.

14They can only ask the Deputy Commissioners of the districts in which the inequalitios are most

15marked to bear the matter in mind in examining the files and registers of their subordinate

16courts, and to take notice of all cases in which djet money appears to have been wrongly paid

17or withheld, or in which impxoper rates have been allowed.

18«80. The average cost of each witness dieted by the Police has fallen from 3} annas

19to 1} annas, the average cost incurred by Magistrates boing 6 annas,

207 pie, or 1 pieemore than last year. The difference between the

21average cost of witnesses dieted by the Police and by Magistrates, which was commented on

22in: last year’s« report, is expfained in several of the reports now under review. It would seem

23that, in most districts at all ovonts, the Police only advance diet monoy in cases in which it is

24absolutely needed by the yvitness H enable him to journey to the Court, whereas Magistrates

25are guided by the rules laid down in Judicial Circular No. LV.

26Average cost of witnesses.

27PART II.—APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF MAGISTRATES AND COURTS

283 OF SESSION!

2981. There has been a jreneral increasesix the numbet of appeals preferrgf to District

30and Divisional Courts during the year. The statistics of the last two yoars are compared in

31the annexed table :-— .

32— vo me Senesetns manied

33Sm" eet

34Se

35She

36Grado of Court. Number of origi- | Number of ap- 5 3 o :

37nal gases decided. peals, ec a%

38He

394

40,

41Subordinate Magistrates ss. sse aus cne ane 4 L8US 88,749 2,263 5:

42saa {iis 407149 2/837 ea

437 : : es

44Magistrates of Districts exercising ordinary jurisdiction })1876 83,174 ;

45and other Magistrates with full powers coe = eee 4) 18977 | ret atic Ue

46St ea =

4782. From the above it will be seen that in both District and Divisional Courts appeals

48Tcavedin werinenini,. — OTe merely kept paco with the larger number of deqisions passétl by

49the Courts of the different grades. which again, as has been pointed

50out in para 60, corresponds to the general increaso in crimi 7

51characterized the year. ' & criminal work which has

5283. Including the pending files of the provious year, there were 2,367 cases of appeal

53Appeslu to District Coults, volving 4,065 persons, for disposal by District Appellate Courts.

54Of these, 2,839 cases, affecting 4,017 persons, were disposed of durin

55the year—84 per cent by Magistrates of Districts and 16 per cont by Judicial Assistants The

56Judges are glad to observe that in most districte the bulk of the criminal a »pellate business is

57can ae by the ee of wi ees himaolf, as they consider that the hearing of criminal

58ppeals gives a most useful yisight into the criminal administration istriot, which it j

59highly dosirable that the chief officer of the district should posses. Se nes