'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1904-1905' [‎137v] (50/116)

Chap. Ill-
PROTECTION.
26
BOMBAY ADMINISTRATION REPORT.
Number of offences.
2. The number of offences reported increased by 10^419 to 173,262 ; of these 88 m
were returned as true and 35 per cent, of the true cases fell under the Penal Code. r [ , lier l
a material increase in offences affecting life (460), criminaWoree and assault (4,598), eJt()tlj
(100), and under the District Police Act (8,759), the Gambling Act (427), and others?!
Acts. There was a considerable decrease under offences affecting the public health and ss ,
(828), unnatural offences (17), theft (9,048), criminal misappropriation (581) and reeeitins s ?
property (935), as well as under four Special Acts ; there were 207 murders, of which 92 ^
Cases brought to
trial and persons
involved.
from motives connected with women and 92 from miscellaneous causes, Pombay slio^g j?
highest percentage of crime to population at 1 to 13 and Ratndgiri the lowest at 1 to 744 *
3. The number of cases brought to trial during the year was 153,393 and the number
rsons involved in them was 256,846 as against 138,208 and 244,163 respectively in,
persons
Miscellaneous cases.
Cases decided.
Punishments.
Appeals and
revision.
Trial by jury and
assessors.
Population,
Disposal of
prisoners.
ips The branch of the British Government of India with responsibility for managing political relations between British-ruled India and its surrounding states, and by extension the Gulf, during the period 1937-47. respectively i n i
preceding year. Of the persons under trial 48 per cent, were acquitted or discharged and {l
per cent, were convicted as against 45 and 41 per cent., the corresponding figures for last
During the year 429 cases involving 502 Europeans were brought to trial. Of the ™
brought to trial 353 were convicted and 149 were acquitted or discharged.
4. There were 2,748 miscellaneous cases, involving 4,703 persons, of whom 34p erceB ;
were discharged and 66 per cent, convicted. The number of persons involved in proceedW
prevent breach of the peace fell from 532 to 382. Proceedings under Chapter VIIIof tl!
Criminal Procedure Code were instituted against 2,851 persons, of whom 1,918 were convicted
5. The number of cases disposed of during the year rose from 138,113 to 152,512;oft
149,886 were disposed of by Magistrates. Of the persons convicted 66 per cent, were tiid
summarily as against 62 per cent, last year. The number of youthful offenders dealt witi
under section 31 of Act YI1I of 1897 was 320 as against 158 in the last year.
6. Sentences of death and transportation were passed in 58 and 160 cases as against 58aiiJ
127 in the previous year. Punishments by fine increased by over 7,500, while whipping
decreased from 2,025 to 1,337. The amount of fine imposed rose from Rs. 3,80 854to
Rs. 3,84,746, but fines realised fell from Rs. 3,12,490 to Rs. 3,06,175. The percentage of
whippings fell from 16*45 to 11*71, the punishment being inflicted as a rule for theft ail
varying from 6 to 10 stripes.
7. Of appeals decided 40 per cent, were rejected and sentence was confirmed in 31 per cent
The number of appeals by Government was 51 as against 37. The average duration of appe^s
was 15 days as against 16 in the last year. In revision sentence was reversed in the caseol
153 persons, reduced or altered in the ease of 146, while proceedings were quashed or new trials
ordered for 19 and 290 persons respectively.
8. Persons tried by jury and with the aid of assessors numbered 348 and 834 respectively,
In the High Court the verdict of the jury was approved in all cases. In the Courts of Sessioi
the percentage of cases in which it was approved was 94 as against 88 in the last year. In
cases tried with assessors the J udge agreed with all or some of the assessors in 72
and differed from all in 28 per cent.
6. Prisons—Civil and Criminal-
For details sec the report of the Bombay Jail Department for 1904 and tables under V.—Jails—appended tote
Judicial and Administrative Statistics of British India.
Habitual criminals.
1. The total number of all classes of prisoners confined in prisons, subsidiaryjails,lo(4
ups and civil jails fell from 94,258 to 93,615 in the'year underreport. The daily average
population was 9,058 as compared with 9,188 in the previous year. Increases are founding
case of the Common Prison, Ahmedabad Central Prison, the District Prison at Phulia, and tie
Special Prison at Aden. The increase at Ahmedabad was due to the failure of the monsooiij
while a large number of,convictions under Chapter VIII, Criminal Procedure Code, and under
the A'bkAri Act account for the increase at Dhulia. The decrease was most marked at tie
Special Prison of Thdna and the District Prisons of Karachi and Dharwar. The number of
juveniles received during the year shows an increase of 38 over the figure of 1903. Th
number of juveniles admitted to Central and District Prisons was 170. Forty juveniles under*
went imprisonment in Subsidiary Jails. The number of females admitted into Prisons and 1st
and 2nd Class Subsidiary Jails was 1,135 against 1,185 last year. Civil prisoners were admitted
0°153 G t^CVlb0 r ^ ie P ei,(3el R a g e of prisoners to free population shows an increase from
2. The chief cause of the decrease under u Releases by Government on other grounds is
the large number of coronation releases which took place in 1903. Owing to a ease of
m Thana Prison when convicts were about to be despatched to the Andamans no prisoners werj
transported during the year 1904. Under Government sanction 18 prisoners were releas
dunng the year. In all 12 prisoners escaped from within and without prisons, of whom d
been recaptured. Two prisoners who had escaped during the previous ten years, were also
recaptured during the year. The number of executions fell from 34 to 33 and of deaths h 0 ®
The number o£ under-trial prisoners admitted shows an increase from 63,89. °
04,4127. I here were 14 escapes as against 27 in the previous year and 28 deaths as against ^
. ^* f be number of habitual offenders identified as such before conviction was h9ll ^
against 1,948, while the numbers of persons who were identified after arrival in Jaila^ 0
persons who confessed themselves to be habitual offenders were respectively 448 and 46 agai^
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For details
Maud Adu
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15,573
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