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'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874' [66r] (136/502)
The record is made up of 1 volume (249 folios). It was created in 1 Nov 1873-14 Feb 1874. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
SCHEDULE II
C ase N o. 64.
Question of prison reform generally in the Baroda State.
1. In liis remarks under this head in the above case, the Resident draws
attention to the alleged practice of flogging women in jail, in view to its being
ascertained from the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
Agent if it exists or not, and if so, what measures
are proposed by the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
for adoption regarding its suppression.
The practice can, it is stated, be proved to exist in the Baroda jail by the
evidence of persons who have been confined therein, and it has also been shewn
in the Visnagar and Patan torture cases as having occurred in those Districts.
The Resident is of opinion that the Baroda jail should be again visited
occasionally by himself and the
Residency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
Surgeon, as formerly, and that the
question of jail registers, subsistence allowance, &c., should receive attention.
2. The
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
Agent states that it is not customary to divest female pri
soners of their clothes and flog them, and that any
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
official guilty of such
an act would on conviction be punished. It was customary to correct female
prisoners, who refused to do the work allotted them, gently with a stick, but it
was ordered to be discontinued two months ago.
With regard to the Resident's suggestion that the Baroda jail should be
occasionally visited by him and the
Residency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
Surgeon, the latter officer has never
been in the habit of visiting it, but the Resident has done so occasionally.
The Agent adds that proper arrangements exist already regarding the
maintenance of a register of prisoners, grant of subsistence allowance, &c.
3. The evidence that has come before the Commission in this matter hardly
supports the charge of the (i habitual flogging " of women in the Baroda jail in
an indecent or cruel manner, but there appears to be no doubt that female pri
soners were liable to personal correction by being struck with a stick as admitted
by the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
.
This practice is stated to have been lately forbidden, and the Commission
is of opinion that the Maharaja should be recommended to issue a general pro
clamation, absolutely interdicting, under severe penalties, the personal ill-treat
ment in this or any other way, of females, whether in jail, or before the courts or
under examination by the police, and that a copy of such proclamation be for
warded by the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
for the information of Government.
With regard to the visitation of the Baroda jail by the
Residency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
Surgeon
and the Resident, the Commission does not feel called on to offer any opinion.
It is not aware that such visitations by the
Residency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
Surgeon are ever made
elsewhere, and they would, it seems to the Commission, bear the appearance of
an unusual and uncalled for interference with a
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
institution. A Resi
dent or
Political Agent
A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
, however, is always at liberty to make them, on intimat
ing to the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
that he proposes to do so, and as the Agent states this was
formerly the practice at Baroda, there is apparently nothing to prevent its
revival.
When making such visits, the Resident could, if he deemed such advisable,
always be accompanied by his Assistant, or the
Residency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
Surgeon,
-G4
I
About this item
- Content
Report of the Baroda Enquiry Commission on the administration of the government of Malharrao, Gaekwar of Baroda. The Commission comprised Richard John Meade (President), Edward William Ravenscroft, Mumtazul Dowlah Nawab An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India. Faiz Ali Khan, Colonel Alfred Thomas Etheridge and Thomas Duncan Mackenzie (Secretary).
The report comprises a letter from the members of the Baroda Enquiry Commission to the Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department presenting their report on the results of the proceedings and submitting copies of correspondence, reports and statements relative to the enquiry (ff 5-19):
Appendix A, Part I
- Schedules I-III: Complaints and grievances against the Gaekwar's Government from individuals and groups (ff 21-78).
- Appendix B, Schedules I-III: Cases of complaint and grievance which the commission did not look into during the enquiry (ff 79-81).
- Appendix C: Letter from Colonel Richard John Meade, President, Special Commission of Enquiry on Baroda Affairs, to Colonel Robert Phayre, Resident at Baroda, 1 November 1873 (ff 82-83).
- Appendix D: Translation of an amended notice issued by the Resident to complainants desirous of appearing before the Baroda Enquiry Commission (ff 84-85).
- Appendix E: Schedules presented to the Commission along with Colonel Phayre's introductory statement regarding them. (ff 86-131).
- Appendix F: Letter No. 1128 of 1873 from Colonel Phayre to the President, Baroda Commission regarding the cases already submitted to the Commission, the List of undisposed petitions to be attended to by the Resident which could be used as additional cases if required and the statements that he had yet to make on cases under enquiry by the Commission (ff 132-133).
- Appendix G, Schedule I: Statements from witnesses with cross examination statements from the Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). on behalf of the Gaekwar and statements from the Resident as to the accuracy of the information provided (ff 134-229).
Appendix Part II (ff 231-245)
- Letter from James Braithwaite Peile, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kattywar [Kathiawar] to T D Mackenzie, Secretary, Baroda Commission, 13 December 1873 regarding papers requested by the Commission and informing them that the outstanding paper will be forwarded as soon as they are received. Enclosed with the letter are a memorandum from Peile for reconstitution of His Highness the Gaekwar's Contingent in Kattywar, 13 December 1873 and Rule for the guidance of the Officers and Kamdars appointed to the Contingent of Horse of His Highness the Gaekwar, serving in the various Tributary Mahals according to treaty.
- Letter from Peile to Mackenzie, 6 January 1874, forwarding a report and returns received from Colonel Walker, Superintendent to the Gaekwar's Contingent in Kattywar and stating that he does not concur with the Colonel's opinion. Enclosed with this letter is a letter from Colonel Chamberlen William Walker, 30 December 1873, providing the information on the Contingent requested by the Commission and enclosing an extract of the Contingents annual report for 1871 and a statement of the men within the Contingent on duty under officials paid by Talukdars etc, 06 March 1872.
- Letters from John Whaley Watson, Acting Political Superintendent Pahlanpur [Palanpur], Captain Henry Nicholas Reeves, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. Rewa Kanta [Rewa Kantha] and Major Philip Harrison Le Geyt, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Mahi Kanta [Mahi Kantha] to the secretary of the Baroda Commission 19 December 1873 to 9 January 1874 reporting on the Gaekwar's contingents serving within their districts and commenting on numbers of men, pay and conditions. The letters all refer to enclosed returns, but only the return for Mahi Kanta is included in the report.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (249 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main sequence of foliation consists of a small pencil number in the top front right hand corner of each folio enclosed in a circle.
There is also an original sequence of foliation which consists of larger pencil numbers also in the top front right hand corner of folios, however the sequence is not consistent and some of the numbers may be filing references rather than foliation numbers.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F126/78
- Title
- 'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:248v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence