260 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. XIII.
They are divided into two
classes—viz., (i) those cases of which the records
have not been called for; and (ii) those cases of which the records
have been
examined by the Commission. In every case in which the records have
been
examined, a note containing the result of that examination has been
appended
to the evidence of the witness who referred to the case. The number
of the
witness entered in the statement contained in the appendix will
facilitate reference
to the particular note dealing with the case.
Cases in which the record
has
not been called for.
549. There are 58 cases
belonging to the first class and 23 cases of the
second.
This gives a total of 81
cases mentioned for the
whole of India. Taking first the fifty-eight cases
constituting class (i), it is interesting to notice that out of
such of these cases as
have dates assigned, no fewer than eleven are over twenty years
old. One Euro-
pean witness has to go back to 1856 before he can find in his long
experience any
case of violence attributable to hemp drugs, and two native
witnesses recall
instances over forty years old. This serves to show that these
cases are drawn
from a long period of years as well as from the whole of India. It
is also
interesting to notice that seventeen of these cases are attributed
to sepoys and
armed police, to whom great temptation to violence presents itself
when they are
suddenly or seriously provoked. Ten other cases are attributed to
persons of the
fakir or religious mendicant class. The following sentences from
Mr. Macona-
chie's judgment in the case shown as No. 71 on the list are of
interest in this
connection: "Accused was at the time excited with bhang; and even
now at
his trial he has a daring and violent manner, which shows plainly
his disposition.
He is one of those roaming fakirs who, when they get excited by
their favourite
potations of bhang or charas, are utterly lawless, and are fit to
be treated as
enemies of society."
Deducting these
twenty-seven cases, there remain only thirty-one of this
class adduced as evidence of the effect which hemp drugs have on
the people
generally in leading to violent and unpremeditated crime. These
cases cannot
be very fully examined, as the Commission have not had the records
before them.
But the statements of the cases by the witnesses themselves show
that several
are merely cases of the rowdyism of intoxication; that there are
several where
the motive for the crime is quite adequate without looking to hemp
drugs; and
that there are not a few that have been put down to hemp drugs for
no other
reason than that the offender was a consumer. In one case the
witness has held
it sufficient to say that the man was under the influence of some
drug.
Cases in which the
records were
examined.
550. The Commission
called for the records in twenty-three cases in which
the
records were clearly
traceable and easily obtainable.
These cases were selected at haphazard simply on
this ground. An abstract of what the records contain in each case
will be found
appended to the evidence of the witness quoting it. The examination
of these
cases tends greatly to weaken the force of the impression, even
such as it is,
created by the perusal of the cases of the first class. They may
now be briefly
discussed in detail. In case No. 59 a police officer informed the
Commission
that a ganja smoker suddenly murdered a vendor because he would not
give him
more of the drug. The facts were that the man had his knife in his
hand as he
was eating fruit; that in an altercation with the vendor the latter
first dealt him a