Report on the Police Administration of the Central Provinces and Berar for the year 1930 * * *

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GOVERNMENT OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCr;S POLICE DEPARTMENT

Nagpur, the 8th January 1932. READ- Report on the Police Administration of the Central Provinces and Berar for the year 1930.

READ ALSO-

Th<. district report~.

RESOLUTION

1. Government has read the report with interest. It covers a period during which the police force was put to a strain greater than any to which it had been subjected previously in the history of the province. First it had to contend with a troublesome strike on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, in connection with which the railway police did specially good work; and when that had been settled, it had to face the civil disobedience movement in all its various forms. In dealing· with this movement-with salt satyagraha, forest satyagraha, picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops and in many cases with open violence and rioting-the conduct of the force was exemplary throughout, and all ranks earned the praise and thanks of Government. The serious nature of the movement can be deduced from the fact that there were no less than 4,812 convictions for offences connected with it, that one member of the force was killed and 145 received injuries in suppressing it, and that punitive police had to be imposed in no Jess than nine districts. Although early in · the year the police were exposed to every kind of vilification, it is satisfactory to note that at the end of the year their relations with the public had returned to normal in many districts. · 2. There were no important changes in the strength of the force. It is recognized that in places this strength is inadequate even in normal times. In times like the 2· past year; when the force had to meet incessant demands, and had to supply nearly sao men for punitive work, it was only the devotion of all ranks to their duty that averted a break-down. The force is also badly housed in many places, and Government hopes that the task of remedying it will be taken in hand as soon as the finances. of the province improve.

3. Despite the turbulent conditions of the year and the great increase of work imposed on the police by the:~ civil disobedience movement, it is reassuring to find~ firstly, that the number of crimes registered fell from 41,100 in the preceding year to 39,200: and, secondly, that the police were able to investigate 28,800 of these as against 29,500 in the preceding year. Action taken under the preventive sections of the Criminal Procedure Code was again effective. 4. The office of the Inspector-General or Police. \\as held throughout the year by Mr. Morony, and high. praise is due to him for his excellent leadership, and, for· the sound advice which he was always able' to give ta: Government. The Governor in Council desires to tender: to .him· and to all members of the force his. thanks. fot~ their untiring zeal, and to congratulate those ofikers. on. whom distinctions were conferred.

0RDER.-0rdered that a copy of the resolution be. submitted to the Government of India.,. Home Depart­ ment, and a copy be forwarded to the Registrar, Judicial Commissioner's Court, for information of the Ju.diciaL Commissioner, and the Inspector·General'of Police, for. information and guidance, also that it be published in the. supplement ta the Central Provinces Gazette.

By order of the Governor in Council~ H. GOWAN, Chief Secretary to Government, Central. Ptovinces. No. 2338.

FROM C. C. CHITHAI\1, EsQ., I.P.,

0FFG. INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE, Central Provinces,

To

THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,

PoLICE DEPARTMENT, Central Provinces.

Nagpur, the 25th June 1931.

SIR, I have the honour to submit the Report on the Police Administration of this Province for the year 1930, together with the prescribed statements. ·

I have tile honour to be, SIR, Your most obedient servant, C. C. CHITHAM, Offg. Inspector-General of Police, Central Provinces. Report on Police Administration of the Central Provinces and Berar for the year 1930.

PART I.-CRIME

SECTION I .-GENERAL Mr. Morony held charge of the Department, with Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Chitliam as Deputy Inspectors­ General, Crime and Railways, and Eastern Range, res7 pectively, throughout the year. The Western Range was under :Mr. Duke during the period of February until November when Mr. Smyth was on leave. On that officer's return towards the end of the year the two ranges were temporarily split into three. 2. Economic conditions in the early part of the year were more favourable than for sometime. In the cotton country the crops were fair to good, but the price of cotton remained low and slumped towards the end·of the year. Yeotmal had acute water scarcity, and there was some cholera. In the rice country the crops were fairly good except in the unirrigated portion of the Bhandara district where also the demand for labour in the manganese mines decreased. In the Nerbudda valley and the northern districts of Saugor, Damoh and Jubbulpore the rabi crops were nearly average after three years of bad crops, while the kharif was good, and the staple foods generally were more plentiful than they had been for a long time. A decided fall in crime against property in the wheat country was the natural result. The cultivator, however, has been hard hit by the general trade depression and the slump in prices which commenced towards the end of the year. 3. The year was one in which the Police had pro­ bably the greatest strain put upon them during the history of the Province and the record of their work; the manner in which they have steadfastly and loyally carried through their duties makes one feel proud to be a member of the force. Everything was more or less normal until the 4th February when the Great Indian Peninsula Railway 2

·~One day" strike commenced, which unfortunately continued until the 24th April. The extra duties entailed in the··proter.tion of the line; bridges, and so on, in many places at considerable inconvenience, were cheerfully borne, and cases of inattention to duty were practically nil. One constable died from cholera contracted while guarding a bridge. The bestowal by Government of a full pension for his widow was very gratifying. 4. In pursuance of the Lahore Congress resolution of the Christi:QaS 1929, of the Provincial Congress opened its ampaign in February and gradually intensified it in the following months. Salt Satyagraha was commenced in April in Berar, but won died a natural death. Violent speeches with. much abuse of the Police were made in many parts of. the province and spasmodic liquor and cloth shop picketing was indulged in. Agitation incre~sed in June with incitement to the Police to leave their duty. Picketing also increased, resulting, in places, in cases of violence. The hope that the advent of the monsoon would cool the ardour of the agitators and their disciples was not realized, and mass Forest Satyagraha commenced in July in Berar and soon spread almost all over the Province, and in many places violence in a serious form occurred. In many of the larger towns certain elements lost all regard for law and order, and the Police had a very difficult time, having abuse and vilification poured upon the'm by agitators and irresponsibles of the town, while the teasing of point duty constables became an amusement of small boys.· 5. The earliest serious clash occurred when the Police had to open fire at a riotous mob at the ware­ house in Jubbulpore. This enforcement of authority had good effect. Stringent measures had to be taken in the Murwara ta~1sil which had become very disorderly, and Punitive Police were imposed. Agitation in the Amraoti district was very wide-spread and Punitive Police had to be hnposed on several villages. The conduct of the people caused Government to impose Punitive Police on the following areas as well as those already mentioned:- Arvi tahsil of Wardha district. Chanda town. 3 Gondia tahsil of Bhandara district. The whole of Betul district. Mahasamund and Dhamtari tahsils and Arang town of the Raipur district. Saonair town of Nagpur district. A small portion of Seoni district. In the mofussil the agitation in regard to Forest Satyagraha had the effect of upsetting the aboriginal tribes, and resulted in serious occurrences in the Betul, Raipur, M:mdla and Seoni districts. , In the Shahpur circle of the Betul district, the attempt of two head constables and two constables to arrest an agitator in a meeting of Gonds and Korkus resulted in the murder of one of the constables and grievous hurt to the others, and the following day in his attempt to arrest the same man, while among a larger crowd at the same place, the District Superintendent of Police had to open fire to save the life of the Circle Inspector and to stem an attack on his party of Police. Later, in another part of the district, the District Superintendent of Police _ and his men were repeatedly attacked by a crowd of 700 villagers and had to fire on them. On another occasion there would have been an attack on the District Superintendent of Police if he had had a smaller force with him. In the Raipur district the Police had to open fire on two occasions. On the first occasion Mr. Jack, District Superintendent of Police, with a small party of Police, gallantly dispersed a large crowd and a Sub- Inspector would undoubtedly have been killed but fur a constable opening fire on his own initiative. Later, in the Khariar zamindari, a party of Police under Mr. Sanyal, Assistant Superintendent of Police, was attacked by a large crowd of villagers and had to retreat owing to darkness. The ·Police had to fire iutermittently, and there is no doubt that a Circ1e Inspector and a head constable, who got left behind in the darkness, would have been killed but for the plucky intervention of a village mukaddam and kotwar. Various acts of lawlessness in a portion of the Seoni district culminated in an attack on a party of Police by some hundreds of villagers. The Sub-Inspector in charge 4 had to open fire killing three persons and wounding several. In Dindori tahsil a serious situation was only averted by the timely arrival of the Deputy Commissioner with a strong body of Police after a night march. Besides those mentioned above there were many acts of violence of a less serious nature committed in many parts of the province. The districts least affected by the movement were Narsinghpur, Hoshangabad and Damoh. In the last named district agitation commenced at Damoh itself, but quieted down on prompt action being taken by the Dis· trict authorities, who realized that, once a rumour spread that the present 'Raj' had gone, dacoits would have played serious havoc, as they did in the non-co-operation time, a decade ago. There can be little doubt that had not the situation in some places been handled firmly by the local autho­ rities, wholesale looting of the richer members of the community would have been the next development. This actually did happen in a part of the Buldana district at the end of the year, but was soon stopped. 6. It is difficult for those unacquainted with the duties of maintaining law and order to realize the strain imposed upon the Police and Magistrates, particularly by the arduous forced marches in· conditions of great dis­ comfort which the lawlessness involved, and special credit is due to the Station-house officers in some small outlying stations, who, knowing that they would not get immediate assistance, handled difficult and often danger­ ous.situations with courage and determination. Com­ mendation of the manner in which the Police did their duty during the troublesome year is found in the forward­ ing note of every Deputy Commissioner and Commis­ sioner. Credit is- given for the fact that in spite of the extra work devolving on the Police by the Civil Dis­ obedience Movement, ordinary crime was kept well under control. Directly in connection with the Civii Disobedience Movement 1,814 cases of various kinds were registered and up to the end of the year 4,812 persons were convict­ ed. 5 7. The agitation naturally caused a certain change in the attitude of the people generally towards the Police. The Commissioner of Berar aptly says "It should, I think be emphasised that the persistent vilification of Government and Government officers, particularly the Police, often in the presence of the officers themselves, cannot fail to impair the prestige of Government and the· Police in the countryside. It is not often recognized that this loss of prestige invariably involves inefficiency on the part of the staff, insecurity on the part of the people in regard to life and property, and extravagance on the part of Government. For, conscious of a sense of security against malicious attacks, one man can control a situation which may require half a dozen bereft of this necessary ingredient of success." Of many districts it can be said truthfully that apart from those who were actually involved in offences there was an appreciably larger section of the public which gave ·up the traditional attitude of friendliness and ho~pitality to the Police and adopted one of sullen hostility instead. But there was undoubtedly a reaction towards the end of the year, and many Superintendents consider that at the time of writing their reports the relations between the public and the Police were as good as they had been twelve months before, and in some parts it was difficult to realize that villagers had ever heard of Civil Dis­ obedience. Many districts mention the loyal manner in which village kotwars and mukaddams have carried out their duties in spite of intimidation and social pressure. 8. There was little communal trouble during the year. In Itarsi and Harda there was friction between the Hindus and Muhammadans. In Nagpur and Daryapur there was a clash at the Ganpati festival. In Buldana at Lonar six ·cases of Hindu-Muhammadan rioting occurred, and towards the end of' the year there was rioting against certain money-lending and land owning classes. . ~· I a~ very pleased to be able to report that all Dtstnct Supermtendents report that the relations between the Magistrates and the Police were very good indeed. 10. Reporting of crime.-Many District Superin­ tendents consider that reporting of crime was good, but 6 some · consider that reporting of petty crime deteriorated during the latter portion of the year. Generally the civil disobedience movement did not affect reporting as much as was expected. In Nimar, Raipur and Bilaspur there seems room for improvement in the reporting of petty thefts. Discretion in regard to investigations has been cor­ rectly exercised. 11. Total crime.-A total of 39,230 cases .was regis­ tered during the year compared to 41,107 in the previous year. The principal decreases were under Classes III and V which include all offences against property. There was a decrease of crime in the Jubbulpore and Chhattisgarh divisions and very slight increase in the remaining divi­ sions. Investigations numbered 28,753 compared to 29,451 in 1929. 12. Abetment of cognizable offences.-401 cases were registered, all of them being due to the civil disobedience· movement, of which Amraoti had 81, Raipur 72, Akola 56 and Jubbulpore 42, withY eotmal and Bhandara follow­ ing closely. 347 cases were convicted, 13 failed in Court, and 14 were not prosecuted.

SECTION H.-ANALYSIS OF OFFENCES

Class I.-Offences against ~the State, Public Tranquility, Safety and Justice. 13. 924 offences were registered compared to 580 in the previous year, the principal increase being 379 cases under the head "rioting and unlawful assembly". 14. Nine offences were registered in connection with attempts to tamper with the loyalty of Indian Troops, eight of them occurring in Jubbulpore where the organizer went to jail for three years. 15. Action was taken in twenty cases for making or passing counterfeit coins. In the Wardha district three men were caught making counterfeit rupees, while in Saugor two gangs of Baurias, and in Hoshangabad district a gang of Ahm~dabadi Ba~ris, were. ca.ught pas~ing coun­ terfeit nickel coms. Narsmghpur dtstnct had stx cases of passing of bad nickle coins. 7 16. There were 158 escapes from official custody compared to 186 in the previous year. Of these fifteen were escapes from police custody, the culprit in· all but four cases being rearrested. · · The largest number of escapes was from the Yeotma~ district, viz., 31. In 1929 there were 53 escapes from thi~ district. ·

17. Rioting.-Riots and unlawful assemblies attained. the large number of 689 compared to 310 in 1929. 249 cases are laid by District Superintendents directly at the door of the civil disobt;!dience movement, but many of the remainder would probably not have occurre4 but for the lawless spirit caused by it. Nagpur had an increase of 75, Akola 54, Raipur 50, Jubbulpore 30, while only one district had a decrease; viz., Balaghat, with eleven cases compared to twelve. · 354 cases were convicted and .124 failed in Court. In Nagpur there was a communal riot between the Mahars and Muhammadans, which luckily did not spread. In Kelod, in a riot over land, both parties used fire· arm~. 'Action against the leader of the aggressive p·arty had been taken under section 107, Criminal Procedure Code, the proceedings having been pending in court some months. In the Bhandara district a constable was nearly killed by some manganese miners whose fighting he· had attempted to stop. · · In the Seoni district .a case of rioting, which occurred in July 1929 between local. factions in the Seoni town was convicted after a yery long trial, but its appeal was still pending in the Sessions Judge's Court at the end of 1930. It is an example of the way justice can be delayed by the adoption of tortuous methods. Many of the more ser!ous riots in connection with the civil disobedience mo\ ement have already been men­ tioned. Class H.-Serious Offences against the Person. 18. 3,161 cases were registered, art increase of 53 on the previous year. I ncluaing the 473 cases under investigation from last year, 3,504 were investigated and .1.182 were convicted compared to 1,158 in the preced- mg year. · 8 The only side head under which there was a serious inc~ease was "Assault on Public Servants," viz., 312 agamst 223.

19. ~urder.-322 murders were registered, three more than m 1929, and the largest number in the last 22 )Tears except in 1918 when there were 343 cases. The 83 cases that remained in the hands of the Police at the end of 1929 brought the total investigations to 405, of which 200 were taken to court. 115 cases were convicted, but in' 23 cases only was the death sentence passed and confirmed. In 110 cases no clue could be obtained and the remaining 95 were being investigated at the end of 1930 .. In 27 cases the murderers committed suicide. These figures include those of nine mothers who did away with themselves when murdering their children. Alto­ gether there were 38 infanticides, in 13 of which con­ victions were obtained. · As in 1929 the highest number of murders was in Raipur with a total of the same number as in that year, viz., 32. Yeotmal had 24, Akola 23, Bilaspur and Jubbulpore 19 each, while Saugor and Bhandara had 18 each. Berar had 73 murders compared to 56 in 1929 and Seoni district had 14 compared to 4. District reports mention five cases of murder through superstition. In Nagpur a man, to whose evil eye was attributed an outbreak of cholera, was brutally assaulted by several villagers, and his relatives were prevented from attending. to him. On his way to the station-house the next day the same villagers killed him. In Balaghat three Gonds killed another as they thought he was causing harm to their relations by magic, while in the same district two men, who were believed to have caused the death of a villager by magic, were threatened with being burnt alive, but instead were buried. They were exhumed later, but one died. In the Bilaspur district a suspected witch was beaten to death and the body hung on a tree, while in Amraoti a man suspected · of sorcery was made drunk and then killed. In the Nagpur district a malguzar and some villagers did very good work in capturing a man who had killed his two wives and mother. 9 In the Bhandara district there was an example of the spirit of lawlessness created by the civil disobedience movement. A party of villagers looted the malguzar's orchard. Another party came to help the malguzar, but were routed by the first party leaving one of their party dead. A Lodhi of Gondia went into the Lanji circle with a younger companion to buy mangoes for sale in the Gondia bazaar. The former was found murdered in an old rest­ house, having been killed by the youth for the few annas he had with him. The youth was arrested in Amgaon in the Bhandara district lecturing on Congress matters. Saugor had a case .reminiscent of earlier times. One .Arjun Singh, a perfectly respectable farmer shot his brother and servant owing to their apparent friendship with his wife. He then went into Gwalior State and, having become an outlaw, began forming a gang of dacoits. He was, however, located, and, to prevent capture, shot his wife and himself. In the Seoni district two boys of about twelve yearr, of age killed an oldish man for interference with a girl of thirteen years. In the Hoshangabad district a Pathan in the open hazaar in !tarsi stabbed two other Pathans to death in a religious quarrel and gloried in his deed. Four murders in the mines area in the Chhindwara district were com­ mitted by Pathans, one of whom was arrested after having been followed up to the Abbotabad district. Good work was done by the Damoh Police in the detection of the murder of a man, unknown in the locality, whose head was found cut off from the trunk at a good distance away from the body in the jungle. The only clue to identification was a torn-up and otherwise defaced tea garden sardar' s certificate. His murderer was a · rival sardar, who was traced after infinite patience and convicted. In Yeotmal some murderers tried a novel way of attempting to dispose of the body. The Mahant of a temple was considered to be defiling the temple hy keeping a Chamar woman. Harm contemplated to .the Mahant by orthodox Hindus was prevented by his :Muhammadan servant. The servant was shot in the 10 head, his body cut into pieces and the pieces stuffed into crevices in the bank of a river, below the surface of the water. - . There were several cases in which tyrannical malgu- zars met their deaths through violent means. In Khandwa town the leader of a burglar gang broke into a house and having been disturbed by the occupier fatally stabbed him, but the latter held on to the burglar till help arrived. In another case in that town some. boy scouts did excellent work in capturing a man who had murdered his fiancee. In the same district a wandering Bairagi killed his boy companion by stabbing him with a black buck horn. · In the Raipur district a dismissed servant's successor assaulted the latter with an axe and then having broken into the house in which he had taken refuge, killed him with a blow of an axe on the head, and then drove the axe into the deceased's head with a large stone. The man was convicted but was not sentenced to death for this dastardly crime. In fact in this district in which 32 murders occurred, 9 of which were convicted, in only 3 - were death sentences given, but none of these was confirmed. . Opinion differs on the efficacy of the death sentence, bnt it is difficult to believe that more sentences of capital punishment would not have some deterrent effect. 20. Attempts at murder.-Attempts at murder numbered 68 of which 28 were convicted, compared to 74 in 1929 of which 24 were convicted. Among the most serious cases were the assaults in the Raipur dis­ trict, on a Sub-Inspector at Rudri, on the Circle Inspec­ tor Khariar, and a head constable at Nawapara and on a head constable and a Sub-Inspector at a religious fair when the former was trying to arrange the passage in and out ·of the temple by devotees.

21. Culpable homicides.-The number of ca~es of culpable homicide were 49 of which 45 were convicted, compared to 46 of which 45 were convicted in the previous year. 22. Rape.-Rape cases numbered 138, or 2~ less than 1929. Fourty-three cases were convicted. 11 Yeotmal had the highest, 14, as in the previous year. Four out of the 5 cases in Nimar were of girls of 7 years and below. 23. Grievous hurt.-There was an increase of 53 cases of grievous hurt over the· 709 of the pre\'ious year. 270 cases being convicted while 133 of the 219 that failed in court were compounded. Many Superin­ tendents complain that too many cases are allowed to be compounded, and that the Police, who have had the duty of investigating, have not sufficient hearing as to whether composition is desirable. In the turbulent districts of Jubbulpore, Saugor and Damoh 59 cases were convicted, 46 were discharged or acquitted, but 33 were compounded. The Narsinghpur report, however, says, that in that district the Police were always consulted before composition was allowed, with the result that only one case was compounded, and that nose cutting, which was once prevalent, is of much less frequent occurrence. Under the ordinary hurt sections, of the 117 cases which failed in court, 83 cases were compounded. That a husband should beat his wife because she was delivered of twins seems strange, but this did happen in Raipur and the husband got three months' rigorous imprisonment. In a case in the same district, in which a boy accidentally knocked down another, the father of the latter branded the former and was allowed to compound the case. 24. Administering stupefying drugs.-There was a welcome decrease in the use of stupefying drugs, only 22 cases having been reported of which 5 were convicted compared to 61 in 1929. In Berar alone the decrease was from 37 to 6 cases. 25. Wrongful confinement-A curious case of wrongful confinement is reported from Hoshangabad. "A constable going from the Bankheri station-house to a village heard a voice crying for help from a tree, hut could see no human being. Near this tree is another tree reputed to be haunted. Overcoming a desire to bolt ,the constable approached and, being guided by the voice, discovered in the hollow trunk of the tree a man bound hand ·and foot and unable to move. H~ stated 12 that he had been outcasted and two men of his village had used their influence to have him reinstated for which they demanded ten rupees. He was unable to pay, so he was beaten and tied up to a post for the night. Next morning, when on his way to the police-station, he was followed, securely tied and lowered into the tree, through a hole about eight feet from the ground. It appears that others had heard his cries for help but the haunted tree had kept them away and, had the constable been as timid as they, he (complainant) would most probably have slowly starved to death. The persons concerned being infiuen· tial it was difficult to get evidence. A case was put up, however, but discharged and an application for retria! was also unsuccessful". 26. Kidnapping.-There was an increase of 31 cases to 92 cases of kidnapping. Traffic in women to places outside the province has been of rare occurrence and is only reported from Raipur, Bilaspur and Saugor. Action in these cases by the Police has been satisfactory. 27. Assaults on public servants to deter from duty.­ The increase in this class of offences is an indication of the spirit that was abroad during a part of the year. The figures do not include any mass attacks. 312. cases were registered compared to 223 in 1929, a normal number for several years. There was an increase in all but four districts, Jubbulpore (12-30), Mandla (10-25), Raipur (13-29) and Akola (6-16). Of the increase of 89 cases only 46 are placed by Superintendents directly at the door of civil disobedience, but it is safe to suppose that the movement was indirectly the cause of many of the remainder- The assaults are classified as follows :- Assaults on Police officers 93 Assaults on Forest officers 61 Assaults on Excise officers 28 Assaults on Civil officers 85 Assaults on miscellaneous officers 45 It is surprising, considering the.. amount of work Police had to do, with the people deliberately out to break the law, that there were not many more cases of assaults on Police officers, and it .is testimony to the patience and forbearance with which they did their duty. 13 Of the cases prosecuted 146 were convicted and 53 failed in court. No criticism was made by any Superintendent of inadequacy of sentences. Class 111.-Serious Offences against Person and Property or against Property only. 28. 9,751 cases were registered compared to 10,518 in 1929, a decrease of 767 cases. There was an increase under dacoity and robbery of 25 and 21 cases, respectively, but a decrease under the other heads, notably 714 cases under burglary. 671 cases were pending from last year. Of the total of 8.376 cases investigated, convictions were obtained in 1,178, while 290 cases failed in court. These results are much the same as in the previous year. The value of stolen property was approximately Rs. 7,60,000 of which 20.1 per cent was recovered, while in 1929 the figures were Rs. 6,30,000 and 24.6 per cent. The value of stolen property would have been nearly the same in both years but for the agrarian trouble in Buldana in the last ten days of the year. 29. Dacoity.-Cognizance was taken by the police of 68 reports, of which 25 were due to the abovemention­ ed out-break. But for this regrettable lapse the number would have been the same as in 1929, which was the lowest on record, except for one year, in the last twenty-five years. The inhabitants of the three northern districts of Saugor, Damoh and Jubbulpore should be thankful to the Police of those districts for tlieir . continued success in preventing depredations from ·the gangs of dacoits that were working in the bordering States. ·This was done by constant patrol and unceasing energy. In the Jubbulpore division, there were only 3 cases in Jubbulpore, 3 in Saugor and 1 in Damoh. The most important, one of Rs. 8,000 in the house of a Kalar malguzar was detected after a careful enquiry by Circle Inspector Muztaba Khan and Inspector Shankardayal (C. I. D.) involving long and tedious marches in State territory. The other two cases of Jubbulpore were of a similar nature and the culprits have been arrested. The Saugor cases were petty and occurred on the ed~e of the district and the Police had no chance, while the Damoh case, a petty one, was convicted. 14 Trans-border Pathans committed a house dacoity of Rs. 5,500 in the Burhanpur tahsil, one of them having taken up residence recently in the vicinity. They got over t~e North \Vest-Frontier before they could be caught. The case illustrates the necessity of the machinery fer the spotting of strangers being as perfect as possible. Of the two Betul cases, one was an attack on a head constable and Forest official who had seized a gun and a sambar skin in the jungle. This was followed the next day by an attack of 700 Gonds on the District Super­ intendent of Police, the Divisional Forest Officer and their party. The other was an attack on a village tailor, some of whose foreign cloth was looted and burnt. The former case was convicted and the latter was pending at the end of the year. In the Nagpur division tlie only case of interest is the one of the Balaghat district. Some respectable men of Nagpur, in collusion witli three criminals of the Balaghat district, went in an ancient Ford car to the complainan(s house. some eight miles off the main road, shot the complainant and anotfier, badly wounding both, and looted the house of Rs. 1,440 worth of property. All have been arrested and all property recovered by the c. I. n: and the local officers. Chhattisgarh had only 1 case compared to 6 in 1929. This was a road dacoity and was not traced. · In Berar the two Amraoti cases were unimportant. Of the 5 Akola cases 4 were road dacoities. In the only true case in Yeotmal some Rathors recently arrived from Rajputana committed a dacoity with murder. They are under trial. Buldana registered 37 cases compared to 2 in 1929. But for the agrarian trouble ,vD.ich broke out in the last fortnight of the year, there would have been only 12 cases of which 7 were really road robberies, but were magnified. Of the 12 cases, which average Rs. 100 each in value, 5 were convicted. Twenty-five cases were registered in connection with the agrarian out-break. In 8 of these no property was stolen, but in the remainder Rs. 1,33,000 worth of property was reported to have been stolen. 15 The cause of this trouble was principally th·e ill-feeling between the landlords and moneylenders on the one side ·and the tenants and labourers on the other. The cases are still under enquiry. It was suppressed within a week once the district authorities commenced action. 30. Robberies.-There was a slight increase in robberies from 196 to 217, of which 58 were convicted and 24 failed in court. 89 were highway robberies and 28 cases were caused through the civil disobedience movement. Of the 25 cases in Buldana 12 were road robberies near the Hyderabad border none of which was traced. 31. Arson and serious mischief.-Arson cases de­ creased from 745 to 694, of which only 14 were convicted. This form of crime is most difficult to detect and it is only when some one is caught red-handed that there is hope of a conviction. Yeotmal in the previous three years has had more cases than other districts and out of a total of 162 cases in the two years only one has been convicted. In the Balaghat district two cattle pounds were set on fire by Congress volunteers. In Raipur a spiteful religious mendicant set on fire the house of a man who had refused him alms, but no one could give evidence in court against . him. · In the Jubbulpore district a number of men with the idea of damagin~ Government property, callously cut through the bund of an irrigation tank, but were driven away by inhabitants of villages below the bund in time to prevent untold damage to property and possibly to life. 32. House-breakings.-8,518 burglaries were regis­ tered in 1930, a decrease of 714 on 1929, and the smallest number in the last decade. Success in detection was slightly less than in the previous two years, as was to be expected considering the conaitions under which the Police were working during most of the year. In fact, as I have said elsewhere, it is surprising that they did so well. 1,052 cases, or 14,8 per cent, of those investigated and 12.3 per cent of those registered were convicted .. In the Jubbulpore division where the outturn of crops was so much better than it had been for some time, there was a decrease of 600 cases. This decrease would have been greater but in Katni there was a large increase due undoubtedly to criminals in the guise of Congress volunteers. In Berar, the total of cases was practically the same as in 1929, and in the Central Provinces Nagpur and Bilaspur were the only districts that had an increase and that only slight. In the Raipur and Betul districts the results of investi­ gations were the worst, while Balaghat and Damoh districts did best. Nimar results improved a good deal over last year's, and there has also been an improvement in Nagpur city and district. The Raipur town crime decreased from an a;verage of 120 cases for the years 1922-1927 to 60 cases per year since then. This is believed to be due to better check of visitors to the town, 3nd, possibly, to the help given by the Police to ex-con­ victs. The results of investigations in the professional or semi-professional type of burglary are poor. Of the 542 burglaries reported in Raipur district, 159 were cases of 'khan' or cutting through a wall, a type of crime that is done by a semi-professional or professional. Of the total of 542 cases 48 were convicted, but of the 159 only 2 were convicted. This is very extreme, but in districts where detection of professional crime is best it is less than half as good as the detection of ordinary burglaries. Of course this was in a year when the Police had too much to do to give tlieir full time to ordinary crime, but in a normal year the difficulty is to get the average investigating officer to dig into old records. It is generally recognized that once a man starts a particular form of crime he continues that method and in accord­ ance with this idea classification of crime and of criminals has been commenced in many districts. It is too early yet to expect much result. The total value of property stolen was Rs. 5,94,350. of which 20.4 per cent was recovered compared to Rs. 6,03,331 and 24.9 per cent for 1929. The district with the highest average of stolen property per case is Nimar witl1 Rs. 170, while in Saugor the average was lowest with Rs. 19. 33. Gang cases.-Five g!:.lng cases were taken up. In the Sau~or district some 21 burglaries and thefts com­ mitted in the period 1922-1930, of \vhich 18 had been 17 reported were proved against a gang of four Sonars. In Dam~h 40 Labhanas, while on their way from Rajputana to Calcutta with 1,200 head of cattle, commit­ ted 30 cases of cattle thefts in Damoh alone and are under arrest. In Mandla a local gang of burglars was prosecuted and convicted, but their appeal succeeded. The Narsinghpur Police did excellent work against a gang of twelve Dhimars and others which had been working for years on the Jubbulpore-Narsinghpur border, while on the Bhopal-Hoshangabad border a gang of sixty men of various castes including many Dhimars has been arrested, some 200 offences having so far been attributed to them.

Class IV.-Minor Offences against the Person. 34. 148 cases of wrongful restraint and confinement occurred, compared to 110 in the previous year. Thirty-two cases were caused by the civil disobedience movement, such as picketing of various kinds. Forty-five cases in all were convicted. Under rash act causing hurt there was a decrease from 239 to 179. Raipur had a case in which a contractor driving his own motor car knocked down a child of four years and drove on. He was caught five days later, 250 miles away, and was fined Rs. 100.

Class V.-Minor Offences against Property. 35. There was a decrease under this head from 23,030 cases in 1929 to 21,166 in 1930. The proportion of cases convicted to those reported was the same in both years, but the proportion of cases that failed in· court in 1930 was much smaller than in the previous year. 360 cases were considered as directly due to the civil disobedience movement. 36. Cattle thefts.-1,104 cattle thefts were register­ ed compared to 1,198 in 1929, and 422 were convicted. There was a slight increase in Benir and a drop of nearly 40 per cent in Chhattisgarh. This decrease is considered to be due in the Bilaspur district to the fact that disappear­ ~nces are not properly report,~d. The District Super· mtendent of Pohce says : ~ am convinced that the 18 offences registered represent only a small fraction of those committed, but, until the public realize their duty in the matter of reporting disappearances, no great advance is possible." This is most probably true of other districts. Raipur reported a semi-political case in which Congress volunteers broke open a cattle pound and released a large number of cattle. 37. Ordinary thefts.-Ordinary thefts numbered 18,260, a decrea·se of 1,493. Only 42 per cent were investigated. 2,119 were convicted while 309 failed in court. ·Only 24 per cent of the cases reported were over Rs. 10 in value and slightly over 3 per cent were over Rs. 100 in value. The Jubbulpore and Chhattisgarh divisions returned less than last year by about 1,000 and 400 cases, respectively .. The value of property stolen was Rs. 3,83,876 of which 33.7 per cent was recovered. It is satisfactory that the number of cases that failed in court was considerably less than . in 1929. This is probably due to the contiimed instructions to station­ house officers to refrain from prosecution in cases in which the identification of property could be considered at all doubtful, and to the fact that civil disobedience cases under this class presented no difficulty. Results of investigations and prosecutiq,ns in the Chhindwara district improved considerably, compared to the previous year. 38. Criminal breach of trust.-There was a sub­ stantial decrease of cases of criminal breach of trust, and under cheating also, and police action under both types of crime was fairly satisfactory ; but the proportion of cheating cases compounded to those convicted was rather higher than in 1929 .. In the Nagpur district a Postal clerk was con'Victed for several cases of criminal breach of trust in regard to important V. P. P. articles, while in the Chhindwara district a Postal clerk was convicted for similar offences. Many thousands of rupees in many districts have been lost by credulous people through a new form of cheating by the so-called 'loan companies.' Some test cases have been put up in court since the end of the year. In the 19 Bhandara district a man was convicted for obtaining money ostensibly to bribe the Police. He got off on appeal on the ground that the alleged object for .which the money passed hands was illegal. A bania of Arang was convicted of cheating at Damoh, by posing as another individual and thus obtaining access to a political prisoner in the jail. Class VI.-Other Offences not specified above. 39. This class includes offences against religion, offences against special and local laws, and public nuisances. Such offences numbered 3,503 compared to 3,522 in 1929. · Twenty-three offences against religion were register­ ed, a decrease of 11 on the previous year. None are reported to be of any interest, but it is surprising that some communal trouble dia not result when sor11e Congress volunteers dug up a grave-yard because the Fakir custodian refused to join their organization. Public nuisances were fewer in number than in the previous year, 395 with 236 convictions compared with 462 cases with 276 convictions. Under the Police Act only 1,127 cases were put up compared to 1,549 in the previous year. The principal decreases were in Nagpur,. Jubbulpore and Raipur. Saugor city had only one case. Action under public nuisances and the Police Act was seriously affected during 1930 by the fact that the Police of almost all the big places had too much other work to do. In Raipur, however, the Police put up 472 persons under the Municipal Act of whom 372 were convicted. An improvement in 1931 is hoped for. 40. Under miscellaneous acts there was an increase from 1,497 cases to 1,958 in 1930. The increase is due to 304 cases under the Forest Act, 220 under the Ordinance, all due to the civil disobedience movement, and an .increase of 97 cases under the Railway Act, mostly due to the same mo'vement. Under the Arms and Opium Acts there were decreases of 71 and 95 cases respectively.

SECTION IlL-PREVENTIVE ACTION 41. Under the preventive sections of the Criminal Procedure Code, viz., 109 and 110, 658 persons were b_ound over during the year, c.ompared with 734 in 1929. 20 Amraoti district, as .usual, took most action having 74 persons. successfully proceeded against. In Buldana there was an increase, while Akola and Yeotmal fell off a lot. The District Superintendent of Police, Akola, says that, owing to the activity of the Police in the previous two years, there was not so much necessity for action in 1930. Crime in that district, however, did not decrease. In Chhindwara 57 persons were bound over compared with only 13 in the previous year, a result due entirely to the great personal interest in the matter taken by the District Superintendent of Police, Mr. Quinn-Young. Preventive action in that district was long overdue, and the same may be said of the Nimar district, where towards the end of the year the local Police began to make headway. Chanda took more action than in the p.reviou~ year, some undesirables at Ballarshah being weeded out. In the Bhandara district more action is called for around Gondia, an obvious setting off place for criminals from the North and the East. Seoni mentions cases of good work on the part of kotwars in bringing suspicious strangers to the Police, an activity which should be developed to its utmost extent by .all station-house officers. As my predecessor said in his last report: "It is beyond doubt that .one of the most efficacious ways of keeping down crime is the intelligent 'spotting' of undesirable strangers, and this cannot be stressed 'too often." Although this is really only a repetition of what has been said many times before, yet inspecting officers almost invariably have ample reason to stress its importance. The number of persons who were under surveillance at the end of the year was 2, 792, a few more than in the previous year. Another form of preventive action which deserves notice is that contained in paragraph 14 of Mr. Jack's report from Raipur, which I quote below:- "The movement started by the City Inspector in 1928 to reform youthful criminals was continued in 1930; and it is pleasing to be able to say that only four of the boys reverted to crime. In 1930 eleven new street arabs, who would almost certainly have lapsed into crime, were given employment locally, while six boys who were dissatisfied 21 with their former jobs were given more congenial employ­ ment elsewhere. The City Inspector also obtained a suitable means of livelihood for 49 adult ex-convicts, loafers and suspects, and thus enabled them to look the world strai~ht in the face. For this excellent work Mr. Kiamuddin, the City Inspector, deserves great credit." Proceedings under section 107 were taken against 7. persons and under section 108 of Criminal Procedure Code against 23 persons.

42. Criminality of the people.-Considerin~ only Classes I to V of crime the incidence of criminality in the whole Central Provinces and Bzrar is 1 crime per 405 persons (1921 census) • compared to 1 to 385 in the previous year. Nafsin!!hpur had the highest average criminality, 1 case to 228 persons, followed by Damoh and Jubbulpore and Sau~or, wliile Bhandara, as in 1929, was the least criminal with 1 case to 700 persons.

43. Cases before the court.-In the table below are given details of investigations and orosecutions with results for the two years 1929 and 1930, the figures of Class VI and abetment being omitted :- :1929 1930 I nvesti!!'a ted 25,1161 24.641 Prosecuted 8 890 8,CR4 Convicted fi.349 6.190 or 71 % or 76% A c q u i t t e d or dis· 2.053 1.850 char~ed. or 23% or 22% Compounded 369 32S \Vithdrawn 98 lo9 The number of cases withdrawn shows an increase, nossibly owing to the fact that recently officers have been instructed that it is better to withdraw hopeless cases than to waste the time of Magistrates in continuin~S their . prosecut10ns.• t:> . Damoh, Balaghat and Narsinghpur are said to lose convictions mving to the great tendency of witnesses to change their statements. In the Bilaspv.r district the disposal of cases has been speeded up a good deal. In Wardha the percentage of failure of prosecutions was 31, a high figure. 0£ theft cases prosecuted in that 22 district nearly 30 per cent failed in cqurt. It. appears that improvement in the investigations and prosecutions of cases is called for. Magistrates are inclined to forget the provision of section 545, Criminal Procedure Code, which authorizes the payment of compensation out of fines. The unnecessary trouble given to the Police by people who make false reports is immense, and the District Superintendent of Police, Raipur, recalls with some bitterne.ss that of three men convicted by Magistrates for making false reports on appeal two were acquitted and the third man's sentence was reduced to a totally inadequate amount. He mentions the wish that all those who preside over courts of law should spend a period of six months at a Police station-house to learn something of an investigating officer's difficulties.

PART II .-AD1\1INISTRATION 44. Railway Police.-The year was of more than ordinary importance on the western section owing to the strike on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway during which period all ranks of that section had their hands full. The Superintendent, Rana Loke Shamsher Jang Bahadur, and his officers acted with firmness and decision, helped where necessary, by the District Police, and no unpleasant incidents of any importance occurred in this provin~e. Luckily the strike was over· before the civil dis­ obedience movement got under way. This movement did not affect the Railway Police so much as it did the District Police, but at times extra work and anxiety were caused, owin~ mainly to disorderly mobs attending railway stations when political prisoners were passing through, and to crowds of people occasionally boarding trains without tickets. On a few occasions, such as at Raipur and Khurai, crowds had to be removed by force. During the year ~mother 60 miles were added to the Vizianagram line, and some 35 miles of branch line from Annuoour on the Bilaspur-Katni line were added to our control. The former has necessitated, since the close of the year, the appointment of a fe\Y extra Police. 23 There was an increase of crime on the western section of 86 cases compared to 1929, and a decrease of 60 on the eastern section. The increase on the former was mainly due to an increase from 160 to 23,8 cases under the Railway Act, due mostly to inexperienced hands during the strike and to the civil disobedience movement. Owing to the latter there was also a slight increase under the Railway Act in the eastern section. Five murders were committed, four of these being the work of a N epalee who ran· amok at Maihar station and shot two Police officers and two others dead and seriously wounded two others. He would have com· mitted more havoc, but for the plucky action of a con­ stable, who has been awarded the King's Police Medal for gallantry. Thefts, which form the bulk of the crime with which the Railway Police have dealt,. dropped from 1,233 to 1,143, while the value of property stolen decreased from Rs. 37,000 worth in 1929 to rather less than half in 1930. About 36 per cent was recovered. Action generally as regards this form of crime was satisfactory. P<;>ssibly the best piee"e of work of the year was the detection of a theft of Rs. 1,900 worth of jewelry from the Imperial Mail from a lady passenger. She discovered her loss at Jub-· bulpore, and prompt action by the Railway Police resulted in the property being found with one of the . dining-car servants at Calcutta. There were two fatal accidents on the western sec­ tion. In one an Assistant Station Master negligently allowed two goods trains to meet, all the engine crews being injured, one fatally. In the other a driver lost control of his g09ds train at Darakho qn the Betul line. It ran into the catch siding and 35 waggons were tele­ scoped. One man was killed, others injured and the damage to railway property exceeded a lakh. On the eastern section on the narrow gauge an engine ran off the line and somersaulted owing to the rail buckling, the driver being killed. A serious calamity was avoided on tne main line one night when an entire passenger train, with the exception of the engine was derailed and dragged along the ballast, becaJse the wooden sleepers over a long distance split in half. That the train did not overturn and that many lives were not lost was amazing. . 24 Very good preventive work was done by the Police of the western section. Sixty-four persons were arrested and transferred for trial to various districts where they were wanted, apd 127 persons, including 94 foreigners, were dealt with under the bad livelihood sections. Of these 105 were bound over. On the eastern section where there is possibly not so much scope for preventive work, 17 persons were dealt with for bad livelihood, and 12 persons were handed over to the District Police for offences committed by them. 45. Criminal Investigation Department.-Although the number of cases that have been investigated solely by the C. I. D. officers, and the number of cases in which they have helped the District Police was smaller than in 1929, or, in fact, for some years, the C. I. D. has none the less been very busy all the year and its staff of offi­ cers has been fully occupied. It has been the practice in recent years to depute C. I. D. officers to investigate, as far as possible, all serious cases of riot, etc., arising from communal causes or political_agitation. This policy has enabled the local officers to carry on their ordinary duties, it has prevented possible accusation of bias, and it has ensured eyery care in investigations. Thus, in the year under report, several C. I. D. officers were engaged in the investigation of those serious occurrences in which misguided jungle peo­ ple attacked in force small parties of Police, in conse­ quence of which the Police had to open fire, at Banjaridal and Jambara in Betul, Rudri and Nawapara in Raipur, and Turya in Seoni district. A third serious riot in Betul, and a communal . riot between Mahars and ~Iumammadans in Nagpur and the \Yarehouse riot in Jubbulpore in July were also investigated. The result of these investigations has been that either before the close of the year or since, all the accused, except 2 discharged and 4 pending in court, have been convicted. The Turya case is pending in court. All these cases required very careful handling and it i~ greatly to the credit of the investigating officers that such excellent results were obtained. All these cases took weeks of investigation. Onlv three other new cases were taken over entirely bv the C. I. D. They were the Yerwaghat dacoity in the Balaghat district, mentioned under dacoity, an 25 intricate case of embezzlement from the double locks of the Malkapur treasury which was proved against two cashiers who ·have been convicted and an enquiry into the information given to the Jubbulpore Police regarding the manufacture of bombs. This information proved to be completely false. In all, the C. I. D. assisted the District Police· in 51 cases, of which probably the most difficult was the mur· der of a malguzar of Chhindwara district by his own villagers owing to his repression, a case which the local Police completely failed to unravel. From the early investigation and from the postmortem report it appeared that he had been killed with axes, but it trans· pired later in the .C. I. D. Inspector's investigation that he had been shot first, and then hacked to death, his own gun having been borrowed for the purpose. Help was given in four of the ~ang cases which were undertaken by the District Police. the principal being the Banjara gang of cattle· thieves mentioned in paragraph 33. Miscellaneous enquiries included a curious case of attempt at extortion by a Brahmin malguzar of the Damoh district, who attempted to extort money from a kotwar and a tenant by bringing fraudulent civil suits against them; also the case of a man of the Narsinghpur district who blew himself up with a bomb of his own making. There was nothing to show that he was connected with revolutionaries. 46. Intelligence Bureau.-The Intelligence Bureau has continued to be a most useful aid in the detection of professional criminals, but few of the cases dealt with during the year were sensational or spectacular. James 'Arnold, a cheat and opium smuggler, was proved by the Bureau to be identical with Abraham John Judah Cassier, a professional cheat who was wanted in the Amraoti and Yeotmal districts. Similarly one Joseph Wicks, an inter-provincial cheat who committed an offence in the Secunderabad Cantonment area, was proved by the Bureau to be identical with Arthur Silver alias Tilak alias Arthur Armstrong, a cheat who was wanted for offences committed in the Madras Presidency. 47. Finger Print Bureau.-The number of slips on record fell from 70,147 to 68,083. 6,000 new slips were received for record and 8,064 slips were eliminated under 26 the rules. 12,086 slips were received for search as com­ pared with 13,155 in the previous year. The percentage of slips traced shows a slight decrease from 13.9 to 13.68. Ten absconders and 52 criminals lost sight oi were traced on arrest outside the reporting district. 1,841 slips were received for search from other provinces, and 265 were traced. Expert evidence was given in 16 criminal and the same number of civil cases. Eighteen document:; were sent to the Bureau for opinion, and, in 10 cases, definite opinions were given. Fifteen articles were received with latent or indistinct prints, which were intens.ified and photographed. In two instances definite opinions were given. There was no case of speciai interest. 48. Police Training School.-The sessions opened with 42 Government candidates and 16 from various States in the neighbourhood of the province. Of the Government candidates all, with the exception of two from the department, were directly recruited residents of the province. During the first half of the sessions nine Government . candidates resigned or were discharged as being unlikely to become useful Police officers, and in July two State can­ didates were returned to their States. Of the remaining 31 Government students 30 were drafted into the regular line at the conclusion of the session. A higher proportion of the students qualified than in the previous year, but the two· departmental candidates' were the best in the school. The Principal reports that, of the eight students who had studied beyond the matri­ culation standard the highest was eighth and the lowest 30th in the final of examinations. One State B. A. student failed to get 60 per cent. Discipline was satisfactory, and the general health was good, but there were a lot of casualties owing to injuri~s at games. The students were rather on the small side physically, and they were not so good as usual at games. Great keenness was, however, maintained in swimming, and 39 students obtained the bronze medal, and 18 the silver medal of the Royal Life Saving Society compared to 35 and 13, respectively, in 1929. The results of musketry and revolver shooting showed improvement. 27 Mr. Middleton-Stewart was in charge of the school from the beginning of the year until March, when he was relieved by Mr. H. H. Tayler. 49. Motor vehicles.-At the end of the year there were a total of 7,904 motor vehicles registered, of which 2,918 were public vehicles, an increase over the previous year of 792 and 278, respectively. _,. There was an increase of accidents in connection with mutors from 451 to 548 and the number of deaths increased from 55 to 62. Raipur district had 56 acci­ dents compared to 12 in 1929, and Jubbulpore had 40 compared to 16. No mention is made in either report as to the particular cause, if any, of this increase. . Prosecutions under the Motor Vehicles Act num­ bered 2,498, for evasions of the Provincial Rules 1,194 ·and under the Penal Code 200, compared to 2,855, 380 and 218, respectively. It has been suggested that Government, through the agency of village headmen, should commence propaganda in villages with the simple rule that cartmen on meeting or being overtaken by other vehicles should take their carts to the left of the road. 50. Strength of th~ Force.'-Statement D shows the strength of the force and other details. The cadre of Sub­ Inspectors was increased by 7 and that of head constables decreased by 31. The additions made during the year were 14 constables to Raipur and 12 constables to Bilaspur owing to the inadequacy of the town Police in these places. Five constables' posts were transferred from the Chanda pistrict to the Saugor district. The sanctioned strength of the Raipur Special Armed Force was tempora­ rily increased by 4 head constables and 50 constables, and 2 Sub-Inspectors, 13 head constables and 130 special Police were entertained for the period of one year from the Punjab. In addition to this the normal provincial vacancies of 1-25 were filled by recruiting over-strength in the better recruiting districts and later recruiting con­ tirmed to 100 over-strength. The present stren~th in many places is inadequate, and I will have to ask Government to consider an increase for them. Punitive Police to the figure of 4 Inspectors, 10 Sub­ Inspectors. 40 head constables and 405 constables were 28 engaged in 9 districts, of which 3 Inspectors, 7 Sub­ Inspectors and 236 constables were permanent men. Recruiting was very good . . In the Damoh district the station-house at Tejgarh, whtch was closed down a few years ago, was reopened, as the Nohta station-house, within which most of the old station-house area was included, was found to be unwork- -able. · The rearmament of the force with the .410 muskets was commenced during the year. 51. From the following figures it would appear that the health of the Force seems to be gradually deteriorating :-

Daily ave­ Percentage rage of men of absent from Year. admissions dury on Deaths. into account ht.Spital. of sickness.

1910 61·7 1920 681 19?..6 87·5 1927 76'6 1928 86·1 1929 90·9 1930 101•6

Jubbulpore had the highest admissions to hospital for five years. At Sehora the water in the well that has been used for years was analysed, owing to the amount of sickness there, and was found unfit for use. In Bilaspur the Kartala station-house had to be closed de ;\"'n for a few days owing to the whole staff being down with fever, while in the Reserve Lines there were 7 attacks of typhoid and 3 deaths, due, it was considered, to the bad drainage. 52. I consider that this deterioration may be partly due to the conditions of some of cur buildings, particularly in the mofussil. The Director of Public Health has examined many of the station-house quarters and w}lile he is very- strong on the question of pattern and position of t.he latrines, he considers that a lot of the quarters are 29

not fit for the purpose required. There is no doubt th~t the question of our buildings requires all the sympathetic consideration that Government can give. During the year new quarters for 4 head constables and 50 married constables at Raipur, new quarters for 2 Sergeants, 12 head constables, 76 married and 76 single constables in the Nagpur Reserve Lines, new quarters for. 28 single constables and the remodelling of the old quarters at Ajni for the Constables' Training School together with the school bdlding itself were taken in hand~ Other major works sanctioned were­ (1) Arvi, Wardha district- Quarters for 2 Sub-Inspectors, 7 head constables and 30 constables (2) Jubbulpore- Quarters for 1 Sergeant, 6 head constables, 40 married and 36 single constables for the increased special armed Force. (3) Yeotmal- Quarters for 1 head constable, 22 married and 24 single constables in the Police Lines. (4) Saoner, Nagpur district- First class station-house and quarters for 1 Sub­ Inspector, 4 head constables, 10 married and 6 single constables. Be&ides the estimates for 6 major works that have already been sent for execution in the financial year 1931-32 amounting to Rs. 96,573, I consider that we require N.s. 2,42,200 for major works and Rs. 3,57.000 for minor works to make our officers and men comfortable. These figures do not include those for Nagpur, Chanda, Jubbulpore, Saugor and Raipur which are not yet available. 53. Rewards and punishments.-In the New Year Honours Mr. Morony was decorated with C. S. 1., an honour which was much appreciated by the whole Force. Messrs. Neilson, Scott and Mr. Chitham were awarded the King's Police Medal, and the same medal was awarded for conspicuous gallantry to constable Bhagirath of the Amraoti district and to constable Ganesh of the Special Armed Force, Jubbulpore. 30 Mr. Mayberry, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jubbulpore, was decorated with the 'M. B. E.', while the following Indian titles ,were conferred :- Mr. Harbans Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police -Sardar Sahib. . · Mr. Brij Mohan Nath Hukku, Deputy Superintendent of Police-Rai Sahib. · Inspector Hisamuddin-Khan Sahib. InspectorS. V. Sarnaik-Rao Sahib. A total of Rs. 36,326 was paid in rewards to Police officers, of which 22,550 was paid by the Police d~part­ ment, and 13,776 by magistrates and private individuals. This year some 15,000 was paid on account of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway strike. Rs. 7,053 was paid in . rewar.{is to private individuals. 54. That discipline was good during the year under report is apparent from the figures given below for the years 1929-30 :- ·

1929. 1930.

Officers. Men. Officers. Men.

Dismissed ... 5 180 2 128 Departmentally punished ... 80 563 52 446 Judicially punished ... 17 ... 12 Number of departmental ... 516 ... 426 enquiries. In Damoh district there was not a single depart­ mental enquiry. There were 19 complaints of ill-treatment of sus­ pects, of which 9 were found true, .compared to 26 and 10 in the previous year. In either year there was no con· viction by a judicial court for ill-treatment of suspects. On the other hand there were 40 complaints con­ stituting criminal offences, of which 24 were found true, 2 being convicted by courts, compared to 30 complaints, of which 22 were found true and 7 convicted by courts in 1929 .. 55. It was natural that in a year when attention to ordinary police duties was necessarily curtailed it was impossible for District Superintendents to do as many