'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, FOR THE YEAR 1914-1915' [‎193v] (56/150)

Chapter III-
PROTECTION
3 °
BOMBAY ADMINISTRATION REPORT.
[1914.
Cases and persons
brought to trial.
lowest criminal statistics were returned by the Bijapur district with on >
every 579 persons. The number of offences increased by 587 and 427 6 trUe offen ce f 0
Surat and Ahmedabad districts but fell by 1,312, 1,195, B066, 709 and intli,
the Kaira, Sukkur, Thana, Nasik and Karachi districts. res P e ctiy e ly •
2. The number of cases brought to trial was 151,492 and the num } 3
Miscellaneous cases.
Cases decided.
Punishments.
Trial by jury and
with assessors.
Appeal and revision.
of cases brought to trial was
. & me number r
involved 234,082 as against 154,520 and 240,603, respectively, in the pre 1 ° pei -
the persons tried, 43-1 per cent, were acquitted or discharged, 542 c/^ 6 ^ Of
remained under trial. The corresponding percentages in 1913 ' were , C ° nvlcte( i a nd 3.3
About 47-4 per cent, of the persons acquitted or discharged were acquitted afL 5I ' 4a " d 4 i.
The number of European British subjects put on trial fell from 686 to 667
were charged with offences under the Indian Penal Code and 462 und tlle \ 2o 5
Convictions numbered 476. In the case of 474 persons the trying MapCt T °^ er ^
European British subject. " & b ra e Was not a
3. Miscellaneous cases numbered 4,324, involving 8,178 persons, of whom 2C
were discharged and 68-6 per cent, were convicted. There was a material ' 2 D ^P ercen t
number of persons involved in proceedings under Chapter XII of the Cr' ‘ n
Code for possession, under Chapter XX for frivolous and vexatious accusal' ^ ^ roce ^ re
Chapter XLII for forfeiture of bail or recognizance and a marked decrease in th' ^ Un ^ r
persons involved in proceedings under Chapter VIII requiring security for o- Vh U ? er
under Chapter XXIII for non-attendance of jurors or assessors, and under ^Cl° f }e ^ av ‘ 0llr '
against convicted offenders released under section 562. ia P ter ^PVl
4. The number of original regular cases decided fell from 152,262 to i- 0 01
Magistrates disposed of 146,356, village officers and Sanitary Boards and Com’ It
2,416 and Courts of Session and Superior Courts of 1,242. Of the total number Jf eeso ^
convicted, 61-3 per cent, were tried summarily. The number of youthful offender^ P f SOn , S
under section 31 of Act VIII of 1897 fel1 from 209 to 161 but that of persons releT d
probation under section 562 of the Criminal Procedure Code rose from 939 to 1 099 ^ 0n
5. Sixty-two persons were sentenced to death against 65 in 1913. Transportation f II
from 251 to 204. The number of sentences of imprisonment and whipping fell resnectiv I
from 22,851 and 943 to 21,944 and 919, while fines increased from 94,761 to 96 I
86,427 cases the fine imposed did not exceed Rs. 10, and in 8,565 cases it was betweel
Rs. 10 and Rs. 50. The total amount of fines imposed rose from Rs. 6,62,249 to Rs 607
and that of fines realised fell from Rs. 5,63,192 to Rs. 5 , 59 , 579 - In 6,453 cases the term of
imprisonment did not exceed 15 days, and in 10,741 cases it was between ibdaysandsix
months. Out of 919 cases of whipping, 705 were in lieu of other punishments, 7 in addition
to other punishments and 207 were inflicted on juveniles for offences for which juveniles only
can be whipped. _ In the majority of cases whipping was inflicted for offences of theft and
the number of stripes ordered was generally 5 to 10 only.
6. The total number of appeal cases disposed of during the year was 5,247 and
involved 7,513 persons. The appeals of 3,082 persons were rejected. The sentence or
order of the lower court was confirmed in the case of 2,000 persons, enhanced in the case
of 3, reduced or altered in the case of 728 and reversed in the case of 1,317. In the cased
2 persons the proceedings were quashed and further inquiry or new trial was ordered for
51 persons. The appeals of 319 persons remained pending at the close of the year. Ofthe
total number of appeals decided 42 , 6per cent, were disposed of by Magistrates, 41 percent,
by Courts of Session and i6 - 4per cent, by Superior Courts. The total number of cases for
revision disposed of during the year was 1,405, involving 2,733 persons. The application
was rejected in the case of 1,627 persons, the sentence or order confirmed in the case of 256,
enhanced in the case of 32, reduced or otherwise altered in the case of 144 and reversed in
the case of 160, while the proceedings against 34 persons were quashed and further enquiry
or new trial ordered for 152. The cases of 217 persons remained pending at the close of
the year.
' num .P )er °I persons tried by jury fell slightly from 523 to 489 but that of persons
tried with the aid of assessors rose from i’,499 to 1,542. In the Courts of Session the
\erdict of the jury was approved as regards 402 out of 416 accused persons, and disapproved
as regards 14. In cases tried wdth assessors, the judge agreed with all the assessors in
702 per cent, of the cases, with some in io-i per cent., and differed from all in
197 per cent.
Population.
6.—Prisons—Civil and Criminal.
For details see the Administration Report ofthe Bombay Jail Department for 1914 and tables under Jails
printed in Part VI of the Statistics of British India.
. ^ H le number of central, district, special and extra-mural prisons underwent no chan
tiring the year. The second class subsidiary jails at Surat and Godhra were a h°h sie
jae result of the completion of an extension to the Ahmedabad Central Prison. Tie 0
jai popu ation of all sorts w r as 101,616 as compared wdth 103,861 for the year 196
ecrease of 2,245. I he daily average population was 11,361, a decrease of 76. a l
prisons and second class subsidiary jails only, the daily average increased from 9>53
> 73 1 - his is due to the cumulative effect of long term sentences in 1913- Tli e num e