THE RACIAL DISTINCTIONS BILL

IT was on the 15th of September, 1921, that the Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution recommending to the Governor-General in Council to take steps to amend the criminal law of the country in such a manner as to remove all distinctions between Indians and Europeans allowed and prescribed by law in criminal trials and proceedings. The Government of India accepted the recommendation of the Assembly; and on the 27th December, 1921, appointed a Committee to consider the existing racial distinctions in criminal procedure and to report to the Government the modifications in the law which in their opinion ought to be effected. The committee took six months over the work, and made its report to the Government in July 1922. Another six months were taken by the Government of India and the Secretary of State to consider the recommendations of the Committee and make up their minds as to the extent to which they were prepared to rub off the existing inequalities as between Indians and Europeans in the criminal law of the land. After this long delay, the Government has now published the Bill that it wants to introduce in the Assembly. A perusal of the provisions of this Bill convince every fair-minded person that it is unsatisfactory. The Government has not been able to make up its mind to accept the principle of equality in the eye of the law for all races and nationalities inhabiting India. In one form or another, racial distinctions are still maintained; and the proposed changes will not effect any radical modification in the existing law. As is known, the miscarriages of justice in cases where the accused person is a European are due to the provision of the law that a European can claim to be tried by a jury, the majority of which consists of his own countrymen. That provision is kept intact in the Bill.

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