CRIME IN INDIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 August 1933, Page 8

CRIME IN INDIA

PROFESSIONAL PRISONERS. Along a dusty Indian road a bullock cart was rumbling. It was a hot day and the driver of the cart was • fast asleep. From the bushes fringing the road two figures appeared and quietly brought the cart to a halt, without awaking the driver. The centre pole was propped up, and the bullocks quickly unhitched and led away. Later the driver awoke to discover his loss. This incident was related by Mr C. V. McCarthy Atkinson, who is visiting ' Auckland. At. the time of his retirement in February last, after 30 years’ police service in India, he was senior district superintendent of the Imperial police in the Madras Presidency. Mr Atkinson’s outline of recent steps taken by the Indian Government to put down all forms of civil disobedience was published earlier in the week when he. reached Wellington by the Tainui from London.

Crime in India, he said, was no heavier than in any other part of the world in comparison with the population, although much of it never came to light. In some cases natives would not give evidence, owing to religious beliefs, and more often they avoided entanglement in court proceedings owing to the time they woujd lose from their small farms, on which they eked out a hand-to-mouth existence. It was extremely difficult for the police to get a conviction on a murder charge, owing to the fact that the Hindu religion forbade its followers to participate in any action that might lead to the taking, even by the law, of human life. In what were known as dacoity crimes—robbery with violence by five oi- more persons—natives were extremely reluctant to give evidence against the accused, owing to fear of reprisals. Yet another difficulty experienced by the police was to obtain witnesses who would stick by tlieii’ evidence. The average witness would say “Yes” to anything and a clever lawyer could usually trap a witness into contradicting himself or throwing doubt on the police evidence.

DEADLY POISONERS. India’s notorious thugs of 50 years ago—those who killed their victims by breaking their necks with the aid of a coin knotted in a handkerchief—had disappeared, but professional poisoners still existed. The method of this type of criminal was to administer a poison, usually datura, known outside India, as deadly nightshade, in order to render his victim unconscious. Whether or ijgpt the dose of poison, which was usually contained in a sweet, proved fatal was a matter of little consequence. Railway carriages were a favourite hunting ground for the poisoners. The vicious sweets were handed round all the passengers, sometimes as many as 100, and when 1 the victims were unconscious they were, coolly robbed, of all they possessed'. Mi’ Atkinson related a triple poisoning case in which he was directly interested. He had taken over a new district? and on to the station one evening he was told that there was a dead man lying nearby. When he -went to investigate he was informed that a second man was staggering about the road a short distance away. He went to the second man and got him into his trap, but he died without giving any hint of the fate that had befallen him. A third' man was found dead a short distance further on down the road. It transpired later that the three men were shepherds who had sold some sheep in Madras and were walking home along a trunk road. They had been followed by two professional poisoners, doped with datura, robbed of their money, : and left to die or recover. “That is • just a typical case,’’ said Mr Atkin- J son. (

The average Indian thief, said Mr Atkinson, could climb like a monkey, and for the two years prior to his retirement the police in all parts of tho presidency were troubled by cat burglars. That type of crime had now been almost cleaned out. Since learning that Gandhi’s son had married a Brahmin—Gandhi himself not being a Brahmin—Air Atkinson is more than ever convinced that the Indian leader’s influence is on the wane. “His influence, which is all to the bad 1 , started to decline when he first actively took the part of the untouchables,” be said. One of India’s troubles for years had been the professional thieves, born and bred to crime, but these were being slowly reformed. The Criminal Tribes Act had been introduced into the Madras Presidency in 1913, and to-day many of the professional criminals were living in special settlements, controlled by the police under that Act.

Crime in India was gradually being reduced', concluded Mr Atkinson. Little by little the people were learning to trust, and co-operate more with the police. The improvement was due I chiefly to better organised control and J more efficient police methods.