District Magistrate Balasore's letter dated 1923 to Commissioner Cuttack about handling of criminal cases of French Loge of Balasore.

 While clearing up my old papers recently I found copy of a letter written by the District Magistrate Balasore on 24.12.1923 to Commissioner Cuttack Division about handling of criminal cases of French Loge of Balasore. 

This makes an interesting reading.

Those interested in discovering more such correspondence my see my book "The Balasore Papers  The 1693-1949: A compendium of important documents relating to the Anglo-French dispute". It is available on pothi.com 

 

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Registered.

Judicial

27/23

29-12-23

No. 5384.

From

                               J. Johnston, Esquire, I. C. S.,

To

                                District Magistrate of Balasore.

                              The Commissioner of the Orissa Division,

                                             Cuttack.

                                                                                  Dated, Balasore, the 16 December, 1923.

Sir.

I have the honour to return herewith your file which you made over to me in connection with a letter of the Administrator of Chandernagor, dated 15th December 1923, relating to certain of fences said to have taken place in the French loge at Balasore, with my observations thereon:

Commissioner,

I have examined this file and the more I examine it the more complicated the matter becomes. I am by no means sure that I have got to the bottom of it, but at any rate I have helped to clear the way for doing so.

The agreement being in French I thought at first that it might be that we have no translation of it, and the Police were unaware of their duties in the matter. I find that there is a translation, which in dealing with this portion of the subject, I find to be somewhat some what inaccurate.

In French law there appear three kind of offences, one of which does not appear to possess a  noun, but the corresponding adjectives for which are "Faits contraventionnels, delits criminels", and the agreement between the two countries entirely ignores the distinction drawn in Anglo-Indian law between cognizable and non-cognizable offences, but assumes that all offences will come to the knowledge of the Police.

In British India the Police take no interest in non-cognizable offences, and in this district there is a very strong tendency to turn cognizable offences into non-cognizable ones, to avoid the trouble of enquiring into the matter, or to show good statistics. On the other hand there is an equally strong tendency, or perhaps even a greater one, on the part of the general public to exaggerate offences.

In the list of offence supplied in the agreement theft finds a place, but not ordinary assault under section 323 I. P C.  Which of these tendencies has been at work in the present case it is impossible to say without an exhaustive enquiry, but at any rate the Police chose to treat the calf as simply missing, while his complaint before the French authorities, the complainant represented it as being stolen. There is a slight discrepancy as to the date of occurrence but I do not attach very much importance to this.

The case of a complaint filed in Court has apparently not been provided in the convention, and nobody appears to have been aware of our duty to report occurrences relating to French territory  to the French authorities. The Supritendent of Police has gone away for the holidays, but as soon as he returns I shall discuss, the matter with him and the Sadar Subdivisional Officer, and arrange a system by which all occurrences, whether cognizable or not, relating to French at territory are reported to the French authorities, according to the spirit rather than the letter of the agreement, which as I have pointed cut is very difficult to work unless interpreted with due regard to the differences in law and procedure between the two countries.

In the present case on our own papers we appear to be technically right, but I am by no means sure that we are really so, in view of the inveterate tendency of the Police of this district to minimise offences, and to make out that cases which are really cognizable to non-cognizable.

It would have been much better if this duty had been entrusted to the District Magistrate and not to the Police.

 

                                                                                           Signed

                                                                                     District Magistrate.

A.     Pd.

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