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'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874' [193r] (390/502)
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.
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9
One of these was a good-looking Shenvi Brahmin woman named Narangi,
the wife of Vithoba Polekar, and the other Shenvi, the wife of Ganu, of the
village of Sakarpa. Both gave clear and important evidence directly incul
pating the Mahaiaja himself and his Minister Nana Sahib Kanvelkar in aidinp*
and abetting and carrying on a system of enticing married women away from
country villages of the British districts, using them for immoral purposes and
then making loundis of them.
The portion of their statement given to the Resident, which referred to
their having been enticed away from their villages in the Ratnagiri District bv
some servants of the Minister, who is a native of the village of Kora under
Raja
King
-
pur, was not recorded by the Commission, in consequence of the enticement
having taken place in British territory. Their story therefore commenced
from the time of their arrival at the minister's house in Baroda together with
* This shows the system. several other girls," who had also accompli,led them
from different places m British territory.
It has been recorded, however, on evidence before the Commission:
1^.—That as British subjects, the Minister, Nana Sahib, and the Maharaja
knowingly forced them to serve as loundis in the Maharaja's own household.
2wc?.—That as British subjects they were both unjustly thrown into
prison without trial for no crime
Compare the case of these girls with those of 34 and whatever, but simply because they
3b ot bchedule 11.,m which one girl of respectable i i* ^ i , / J . . i*yr i
family, a companion of the Rani's, and the other a . , . accede to the Maha-
loundi, were similarly treated for the same reason.
raja
King
's Wishes to become false ac
cusers of certain persons.
Srdly. —That having been thrown into Jail as British subjects, they have
been illegally and unjustly detained for about 1^ years, during which time
the Brahmin woman was twice flogged and the other one once.
It is also important to mention here that in September last, the Resident
having reason to believe that a number of British subjects were unjustly
detained in the Baroda Jail, requested 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).
to forward to him a list of
them, showing their offence, sentence, &c. The two women under notice,
though British subjects, having been forcibly made loundis as such, were
excluded from that list, yet in about a month afterwards they were released at
no one's intercession on the occasion of the eclipse of the moon. 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).
,
in their statement of the 23rd December before the Commission, have made
the bare unsupported assertion that both these victims of their system, were
guilty of theft and hence their imprisonment; but it will not be difficult
to disprove such a charge, and to show that, as already mentioned above, their
cases are precisely the same as those of the two women mentioned in cases
34 and 36 of Schedule II. above quoted. In fact, I have reason to believe
that 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).
's own records contain nothing against the two women under
notice, otherwise, in so serious a case they would no doubt have produced
them, in corroboration of their bare statement before the Commission.
Independently of the personal wrongs sustained by, and the personal
redress due to, these women 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).
, it is submitted to the Commission
for consideration that their evidence in addition to what has been already
produced completely refutes the denial of the loundi system 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).
before the Commission on the 22nd of December, when they stated that
females are never seized to be made loundis of 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).
; and that
only such as are willing to enter the service are detained, the rest being
allowed to go to their homes.
Both the women in question are for the present under the Resident's
Protection, agreeably to the recommendation of the President of the Com
mission, pending a reference to Ratnagiri and final arrangements regarding
them.
n—40 c
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