KHAN AND ENGLISH GIRLS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 288, 9 November 1912, Page 4 (Supplement)

KHAN AND ENGLISH GIRLS.

AGED INDIAN CHARGED WITH ABDUCTION.

ADVENTURES IX HOME OF MOHAMMEDAN CHIEF.

Light is shed upon a phase of Indian life of which the general public near little in an official publication just issued by the India Otfice. Tne publ'cation deals with a remarkable criminal prosecution in relation to an Indian Khan and two English girls, which gave rise to imputations m questions in the House of Commons against Sir Gevge Roos-Keppel, Chief Commissioner of the North-West Frontier .rovince, rml other officials. The persons involved were the Khan Bahadur Khwaja Muliammad Khan, a rich landowner, aged 70, of Hoti Maidan, in the North-West Frontier Province; Charles AV. King, Eurasian chauffeur, in the employment of the Khan; Mrs. King, hi* wife; and two English girls, Elsie SwanneU, 2D und Daisv Coutts, 22. residents at the St. J oseph Foundling Home, Bombay. I'he Khan and the Kings were arrested on the charge of abducting the two girls from the Foundling Home. They were brought to trial at Bombay, when the charge of abduction against the Khan and his chauffeur was not continued. L'ltiniately the Crown Advocate said he would not further prosecute, and the three defendants were discharged by Sir Dinshaw D. Davar, judge of the Bombay High Court, who directed that the discharge should amount to an acquittal, saying they left the court without a stain on their characters. The despatch of the Government of India to Eord Crewe narrates the circumstances. Mrs. King, under the name of Henderson, according to the allegations, visited the home in September and stated that two girls were required as governesses for two bays, children of the Rani, the wife of the. Khan Bahadur, and to teach the Rani English. Both lelt Bombay with Mi's. King, being joined- en route by King. On the morning after their arrival at Hoti Mardan (Sept. 26) the Khan Bahadur visited them, bringing food and drink, and interviewed them alone-. He behaved in an offensive manner. The girls said that they had come to work for the Rani, and complained io the Kings, who offered apologies. They stayed till Sept. 30, being told on Sept. 29 that the Rani had arrived. They were put off by excuses from the Kings when they asked about their duties. On Sept. 30, when the police were said to be making inquiries, they were told to pack up, and on their way to the station at night they were taken to a garden, where they again met the Khan Bahadur. They resisted, Miss Coutts stated, his overtures, ami subsequently returned to Bombay. Meanwhile in one' of his service telegrams the Commissioner of Police in Bombay, after a complaint from the Sister Superior of the Foundling Home, said •

From let ters received (by the Sister Superior) it appears there is no liaui. and girls have boon taken away for immoral purposes.

In the J louse of Commons it was stated That the Khan was subjected to a great many indignities in Upper India. Ako that he was asked with menaces to subscribe towards the funds of the fslaniia College, Peshawar (a project in which the Chief Commissioner was per.-or.al-y interested and subjected to indignities. Th e Government of India hold that these eisirg? s are baseless, and pays a warm tribute to the a<l ministry cion of Sir George Koos-Keppeb 'rile .Secretary of State. Lord Crewe, says he agrees with the conclusions of rhe Indian Government