EXTRACTS
FROM THE
ANNUAL REPORTS ON THE MILITARY LOCK HOSPITALS,
FOR THE YEAR 1887.
Extracts from the Annual Medical Report of the Lock Hospital at Bangalore,
by Surgeon D. S. E. BAIN.
There is a Cantonment Sub-Committee composed as follows :—
President :
The President, Municipal Commissioner.
Members :
The Deputy Surgeon-General, Her Majesty's
Forces.
Asst. Quartermaster-Genl., Bangalore Division.
The Cantonment Magistrate.
The Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore Division. The Assistant Superintendent of Police.
Secretary :
The Medical Officer in charge.
The Sub-Committee exists only in name. No meetings are held and no interest is apparently
taken to properly carry out the working of the Act at this station:
The Contagious Disease Act, with the modifications of the late Chief Commissioner of Mysore,
is still in force, and the Superintendent of Police keeps the register of brothels and prostitutes
within the area of 14 square miles implied by the Act.
There were 72 women on the register at the close of the year 1886, to which 6 were
added during the year under report, making a total of 78; of these, 8 either removed their names,
absconded or died, leaving only 70 on the register on the 31st December 1887.
Registration extends to all classes who consort with or are visited by, or are believed to
consort with or to be visited by Europeans, and the Act extends over an area of 14 square miles.
No registration fees are levied. The women were fairly regular in their attendance at the
periodical examinations. One hundred and eight were reported for non-attendance, of whom 10
were imprisoned, and the remaining 98 were warned.
Examinations are held three times a week, viz., on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The
number of women on the register is thus divided into three batches, and each batch is examined
once a week. The women come to the hospital singly and go away in the same way without
attracting the attention of the outside public.
Two hundred and sixty-one women were treated in hospital during the year, showing a
decrease of 72 as compared with the previous year (1886). Among the 261 admissions, 35 were
due to the detention of women during their monthly illness.
I regret to have to again bring to notice the very defective manner in which the Act is
carried out at this station. That there should be only 70 registered women in a population of
93,540, of whom 83,000 are natives, indicates very lax police supervision, and as a consequence
illicit prostitution is extensively carried on without hindrance. No attempts seem to be made for
the segregation of prostitutes as required by the Act, in fact the late Superintendent of Police
was of opinion that registered women "are at liberty to practise prostitution on a maidan on a
dark night as long as it is away from a road."
While the Act is in force, the police should be compelled to see that its requirements are
fulfilled, but this will not be done until a strong representation is made to the Resident.
More willing and efficient aid from the Police authorities, together with assistance from the
Commanding Officers of the various corps, will,I am convinced, lead to a much larger number of
women being placed on the register and to a decrease of venereal disease among the British
troops.
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