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