LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF BENGAL.
5
This shows that the admissions have exceeded by 164 in ten years, and it
only requires a glance at the statistics to see that the criminal population of the
asylums is greatly increasing year by year. This large yearly accession seems
to be peculiar to Bengal, as will be seen from the following table:—
Table showing the Criminal Population at the end of every year since 1884.
YEARS.
1884 ...
1885 ...
1886 ...
1887 ...
1888 ...
1889 ...
BENGAL.
Number of criminal
lunatics remaining
on 31st December.
363
387
397
384
418
440
Proportion per cent. of
criminal lunatics to
total asylum popu-
lation on 31st Decem-
ber
39.49
40.52
41.52
41.64
43.67
44.57
NORTH-WEST-
ERN
PRO-
------.
Number of criminal
lunatics remaining
on 31st December.
211
203
171
170
167
Proportion per cent.
of criminal lunatics
to
total
asylum
population on 31st
December.
21.61
20.75
18.17
17.56
16.95
Not known.
MADRAS.
Number of criminal
lunatics remaining
on 31st December.
109
110
108
134
142
Proportion per cent.
of criminal lunatics
to
total
asylum
population on 31st
December.
20.07
18.33
18.30
21.37
21.94
Not Known.
BOMBAY.
Number of criminal
lunatics remaining
on 31st December.
94
91
98
101
101
Proportion per cent.
of criminal lunatics
to
total
asylum
population on 31st
December.
14.19
14.44
14.60
14.78
14.96
Not known.
CENTRAL
PRO-
------.
Number of criminal
lunatics remaining
on 31st December.
67
68
70
65
72
Proportion per cent.
of criminal lunatics
to total
asylum
population on 31st
December.
23.42
22.74
24.56
24.80
26.47
Not known.
PUNJAB.
Number of criminal
lunatics remaining
on 31st December.
51
56
54
52
57
Proportion of criminal
lunatics to total asy-
lum population on
31st December.
16.56
14.69
14.32
14.77
16.28
Not known.
10. It will be seen that although the criminal population of the asylums
has been rising more or less in the past six years in all parts of India, except
in the North-Western Provinces, the increase in Bengal has reached a magni-
tude not yet attained elsewhere; and if the present rate of increase continues
a few years longer, it may confidently be predicted that one-half of the
lunatics in its asylums will belong to the criminal class. Indeed, this point has
already been exceeded in Dacca, while it is very nearly approached at Berham-
pore and Dullunda.
11. The subject has engaged the attention of Government for some years
past, but no satisfactory explanation of the increase has yet been given. At
one time it was thought that the orders issued by the Government in 1876,
prohibiting the admission into the asylums of persons who were harmless
or under the passing influence of intoxication from spirits or noxious drugs,
would have a tendency to increase the criminal population of the asylums,
on the supposition that such persons if not placed in confinement would be
likely to resort to evil practices, rendering them liable to apprehension as
criminals, but after a careful enquiry by one of my predecessors, Dr. Payne
it was found that no increase of crime was traceable to this cause—a view
which was accepted by Government. It is improbable that the comparatively
large number of criminals in the Bengal asylums can be due to any peculiarity
in the character of the inhabitants, or to any larger consumption of spirits or
intoxicating drugs—a cause, moreover, which exercises greater influence in the
admissions to the non-criminal than to the criminal class, as will be seen from
the following table :—
Criminal ... ...
Non-criminal ...
1885.
Total admissions.
104
128
Admissions under the
head of intoxicants.
20
51
Ratio per cent. of admis-
sions under intoxicants
to total admissions.
19.23
39.84
1886.
Total admissions.
93
125
Admissions under the
head of intoxicants.
22
42
Ratio per cent. of admis-
sions under intoxicants
to total admissions.
23.65
33.60
1887.
Total admissions.
90
91
Admissions under the
head of intoxicants.
29
35
Ratio per cent. of admis-
sions under intoxicants
to total admissions.
32.22
38.46
1888.
Total admissions.
119
119
Admissions under the
head of intoxicants.
25
51
Ratio per cent. of admis-
sions under intoxicants
to total admissions.
21.00
42.85
1889.
Total admissions.
108
139
Admissions under the
head of intoxicants.
31
58
Ratio per cent. of admis-
sions under intoxicants
to total admissions.
28.70
41.72
12. It is possible that in Bengal there may exist greater facilities for
successfully pleading insanity in order to escape punishment for the commis-
sion of crime, but, however this may be, I am inclined to think that the
true explanation will eventually be found in the system of admitting and