by Paul Scott
‘Well let me put it to you that the man was never charged with criminal assault although I agree the assault was the original cause of his arrest. He seems on the other hand to have been known to the police as a man to keep an eye on over anti-government activities of a seditious nature—’
‘– on the frailest evidence, in my opinion—’
‘Well, that’s really what we’re out to examine. I think the situation here is that at the time of his detention the circumstantial evidence of his implication in the assault was so strong that neither the Deputy Commissioner nor the Commissioner felt it reasonable to set him free—’
‘– and used this ridiculous evidence of a connection with subversive elements as an excuse to imprison him without trial.’
‘One has to consider the affair in the context of the time and circumstances. If the detention order was unjustly made we have the opportunity of seeing that now in clearer perspective. What we’re not out to do is apportion blame among the several authorities who had the difficult job of investigating at the time. I am strongly against a line of questioning that can help the man to level accusations against particular officials. It will only confuse the issue from H.E.’s point of view. Kumar isn’t under oath and the officials aren’t here to answer. The man himself has never petitioned against the order and there’s some cause to think he may have counted himself extremely lucky to get away with simple political detention.’
‘Who has petitioned, then?’
‘No one. No one can except the man in question.’
‘Then why has H.E. suddenly ordered an examination?’
‘I think chiefly as a result of private pleas – for instance by his relative – his aunt, Shalini Gupta Sen.’
‘And perhaps by the late Miss Manners’s aunt – Lady Manners? She, surely, must eventually have learned the truth?’
‘That I wouldn’t know,’ Rowan said.
‘I thought perhaps new evidence had come up and that the examination might be a preliminary to other proceedings.’
‘Not to my knowledge.’
‘Are the other five men to be examined?’
‘I have no instructions. And their cases were different. They denied the criminal assault but never denied subversive political activity, even if they denied being engaged in such activities on the night in question which they said they’d spent drinking in a hut on some waste ground close to the Bibighar.’
‘But Kumar did deny subversive activity—’
‘According to the file his answer to every question was: “I have nothing to say”.’
‘It is somewhat different this morning, isn’t it?’
‘This morning he is not under suspicion of criminal assault. Which brings me back to the point. In my opinion the line of questioning should be confined as nearly as possible to facts bearing on the ostensible reasons for his detention – detention as distinct from arrest. The criminal assault is a dead file. The girl herself is dead. If she was intent on protecting him – for emotional reasons, as was thought at the time – we shall never know. A line of questioning that concentrates on facts relating to the assault and on the details of his arrest on suspicion of being guilty of rape can only be abortive, I believe.’
‘I disagree. If there had been no rape he would never have been arrested. It is clear he was arrested only because he was known to consort with her. It has always been clear, Captain Rowan, if you will forgive my saying so, that Kumar was victimized by the British authorities in Mayapore for his association with a white girl. It is common knowledge.’
‘Common knowledge isn’t evidence. We must base our inquiries on the evidence in this file.’
‘The evidence is worthless to a large extent, Captain Rowan. You have only to read it to see it is all too – what is the word you use?’
‘Pat?’
‘All too pat. Rigged. The girl knew what would happen. The record of her private examination before the District Judge and the Assistant Commissioner makes it perfectly clear that the case could never have come to trial with the six men who’d been arrested because one minute of her evidence in the witness-box would have killed the case for the prosecution stone dead. She remembered her attackers as men of the badmash-type – men who’d probably come in from the villages because of the rumours of riot and the prospect of loot.’
‘Perhaps, but I think the prosecution might have built a lot on her first statement to the Assistant Commissioner, that it had been too dark to see who they were. It’s clear to me that the case never came to trial for two reasons – firstly that the evidence against the arrested men was wholly circumstantial and secondly that the girl – presumably for emotional reasons – was obviously prepared – even to the extent of perjury – to explode the case in everyone’s face if they attempted to bring it into court. As you will have read in the file, she even threatened to suggest her attackers could have been British soldiers with their faces blacked. It was never a serious suggestion but you can imagine what effect her making it, even as a joke, would have had on a jury. She could never have killed the case for the prosecution but with the chief witness working against the prosecution it’s most likely that their case could have been proved.’
‘And so the men would have gone free, Captain Rowan. The detention orders were made to ensure that never happened. The whole thing stank, Captain Rowan. You know it, I know it. H.E. knows it. That young man was as much a threat to the defence of India as I am. His only crime was to have been the friend of a white girl who got raped by a gang of hooligans or looters. What can we possibly turn up now that will shed any positive light at all on his political ideas and activities? The evidence on this file that attempts to point to political affiliations is laughable. I hardly see how one can even begin to frame viable questions from it. I will say frankly, Captain Rowan, that if we are to put this poor fellow through this examination we must give him every chance to tell us exactly what happened and not bother our heads about what it will look like on paper or what muck might be raked. I did not ask to be appointed one of his examiners, but since I am one I intend to examine and not be blinkered by any narrow interpretations of terms of reference that leave the record not worth the paper it’s written on. Frankly I do not care anything about confusing H.E. with details about the assault. Once the examination is over we are both personally powerless to take any step or press for any step we think is justified. I shan’t be surprised if the record simply goes on file and is conveniently forgotten and that poor fellow who may be having his hopes raised has them dashed again. But we are not powerless to pave the way for a justified step to be taken. Forgive me. I am perhaps overheated.’
As if by an association of ideas Gopal lifted the tumbler from one of the carafes and poured himself a glass of water. He sipped it delicately, then patted his lips with a folded handkerchief from his breast pocket.
‘Very well, but if it’s H.E.’s intention to review the detention order an examination that weighs heavily on the side of questions relating to the criminal assault may have a contrary effect. He may throw the record out as irrelevant. And of course you do realize that the examination might give grounds for renewed suspicion that the assault was an aspect of subversive activities plotted and executed by Kumar and others? You speak as if there was no evidence implicating Kumar in the rape. He was absent from home at the relevant time, never accounted for his movements and was bathing cuts and abrasions on his face when the police arrested him.’
‘So the police record states. The first police report – the one signed by a sub-inspector – also mentioned that the girl’s bicycle was found in the ditch outside Kumar’s home. The second report, by the District Superintendent, dated one or two days later, states that this was an error and that the bicycle was found at the scene of the rape, in the Bibighar Gardens, and put in the back of the truck before the visit to Kumar’s home. Which smells to me like an abortive attempt to plant evidence which the District Superintendent later realized wasn’t g
oing to wash. I personally have no faith whatsoever in the statements to the effect that Kumar was bathing his face when arrested. If Kumar’s face was cut and bruised it was just as likely because the police hit him.’
‘Then why didn’t he say so? He was examined by the Assistant Commissioner, and by a magistrate appointed by Judge Menen, as well as by the District Superintendent.’
‘Who would have believed him? He had listened to innumerable criminal cases in the courts as a reporter for the Mayapore Gazette and knew what he was up against. He is an intelligent man – a product of your own English public schools.’
‘I know. I went to the same one.’
Gopal stared at Rowan – as if suddenly suspicious.
‘Oh? Does he recognize you then?’
‘No. I was in my last term when he was in his first. But I remember him. He was the first Indian Chillingborough ever took, a bit of a showpiece. A few years later I watched him play cricket for the school against the old boys. He was very popular. I have a vague recollection of his friend Colin, too.’ Rowan poured a glass of water also. ‘It’s one of the reasons H.E. chose me to make the examination. Until the other day I’d no idea the chief suspect in the Bibighar case was the fellow I knew as Harry Coomer. I wish I’d known years ago what he was having to face. There must have been several old Chillingburians out here who’d have been willing to help him.’
After a while Mr Gopal said, ‘Do you think so, Captain Rowan? Willing, perhaps. Able – no. He is an English boy with a dark brown skin. The combination is hopeless.’
‘Yes,’ Rowan said after a while. ‘Perhaps it is.’
II
‘The examinee’s last statement, please.’
The clerk flicked back one page of his notebook.
‘“So it was obvious the inquiry was about a woman who’d been assaulted.”’
‘No – the whole of it.’
The clerk cleared his throat and recited in a monotone, ‘“When he’d finished he said – So you’ve been intelligent enough to wash, we almost caught you at it, didn’t we? Later he said: Well, she wasn’t a virgin, was she, and you were the first to ram her? So it was obvious the inquiry was about a woman who’d been assaulted.”’
‘Thank you. Mr Gopal – you were making a point.’
‘Yes. It is really a question of the order and time at which the detenu alleges certain things were done and certain things said.’ Gopal now spoke directly to Kumar. ‘I should like to go back to the moment when the police came to your house and took you into custody. According to the police report this was at approximately 21.40 hours. Is that correct?’
‘I expect so.’
‘I see – also from the report – that some three-quarters of an hour earlier the DSP called at your home to see if Miss Manners happened to be there. He spoke to your aunt. She said she had not seen Miss Manners for several weeks. She said you had not yet returned from the newspaper office. Is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘Later when you came in she told you of DSP’s visit and inquiry?’
‘Yes.’
‘At what time did you get home?’
‘I didn’t think to look.’
‘Did your aunt not say something like, The DSP came here asking if Miss Manners was with us, because Lady Chatterjee has reported her missing?’
‘She said the DSP had called wanting to speak to Miss Manners.’
‘And you then asked how long ago?’
‘Yes – I did. But she didn’t reply.’
‘Oh? Why was that?’
‘Her attention was taken.’
‘Taken by what?’
‘She had noticed the state I was in.’
She sensed the little wave of Gopal’s shock. Rowan’s voice cut in, ‘According to the police report that state was as follows: “An abrasion on his right cheek and a contusion on his left cheek, stains on shirt and trousers from contact with muddy ground or dirty floor.” Is that an accurate report?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is it also correct,’ Rowan continued, ‘that when the police, led by District Superintendent Merrick, entered a room on the first floor of number 12 Chillianwallah Bagh, the shirt and trousers in which you’d come home were found discarded, that you were wearing a clean pair of trousers, no other garment, and were bathing your face in a bowl of water?’
‘Yes.’
‘After reaching home and speaking briefly to your aunt who told you DSP had called looking for Miss Manners you went upstairs, changed and began to wash.’
‘Yes.’
‘You were still washing when the police arrived, so you can’t have been back home for longer than, say, ten minutes?’
‘It would have been about that.’
‘So if the police arrived at 21.40 you reached home about 21.30?’
‘Yes.’
‘According to the statement of Mr Laxminarayan, the editor of the Mayapore Gazette, you left the office of the Gazette, which was in the Victoria Road in the Civil lines, at approximately six-fifteen that evening.’
‘Yes.’
‘During interrogation, whenever you were asked to account for your movements between 6.15 and 9.40 p.m. your invariable reply was: “I have nothing to say.” Do you have anything to say now?’
Kumar glanced down at the table. Gopal suddenly came to life. ‘I have a point here,’ he said. Rowan nodded. ‘This contusion on the detenu’s left cheek. There is a copy on this file of the medical report made out when the detenu was admitted to this prison. It was dated August 25th. It referred to traces of contusion still being visible on the face. Still visible, that is to say, after sixteen days. Unless further bruising was inflicted one might assume that the original blow or blows were therefore of considerable strength. Of course, it was never established what caused the contusion, but in the absence of any explanation by the detenu the impression the police reports seemed to leave was never counteracted. That impression was that the bruising was the result of blows by a woman defending herself from attack.’ Gopal took out his handkerchief again, dabbled his lips. ‘It is a point which a court of law might well have subjected to deeper consideration – the extent to which the contusion suffered could have been caused by a member of the female sex. I make the point in case it encourages the detenu to say what he was doing that led to his return home in the state described.’
‘You have heard Mr Gopal’s point. Are you prepared to comment on it?’
‘I’m prepared to comment on it.’
Gopal nodded. ‘Please do so.’
‘It is a good point. I appreciate it being raised. I don’t think it would have helped me in a court of law, if things had come to that.’
‘Why?’ Gopal wanted to know.
‘Expert medical evidence would probably have held that a frightened woman can hit as hard as a man. But even if that had been expertly refuted the prosecution could have turned the point to my disadvantage.’
‘How?’
‘By suggesting that the men who assaulted Miss Manners fought among themselves.’
‘Is that what happened?’ Rowan asked casually.
Kumar stared at him. ‘I have no idea.’
‘Are you prepared to say where you were between 6.15 and 9.30 p.m. on the night in question?’
Kumar glanced at the table, then back at Rowan.
‘No. I’m sorry. But I’m not.’
Rowan leaned back in his chair. Watching, she became aware – as though she sat at it herself – of the expanse of table-top that separated the interrogators from the interrogated. It was an area of suspicion that none of them apparently had the capacity to diminish – although Rowan was now attempting to do so.
‘I find it difficult to understand,’ he had begun. ‘So far this morning you have been extremely co-operative. The impression you have made is of frankness and candour. Now suddenly you revert to that unhelpful attitude of “I have nothing to say” which nullified every attempt made at the time to allow yo
u to state a case. I use the word unhelpful advisedly. It does not help us and it certainly doesn’t help you. The purpose of this examination is to go over evidence which at the time seemed strong enough to warrant your detention. It may or may not be so that at the time other considerations – well let us call them suspicions – coloured the views of those whose responsibility it was, at a moment of acute crisis resulting from civil disorder, to weigh the evidence in regard to that detention. Such suspicions do not enter into what is being considered this morning. I hope that has become clear as the examination has gone forward. These suspicions do not enter into the question of what is being considered, but if the record suddenly disclosed a lack of candour that today might be called uncharacteristic you must see how that would allow room for suspicion once again to enter into the weighing of all the various considerations.’
‘Yes,’ Kumar said. ‘I see that. But the suspicion is unavoidable. However hard you try to avoid questioning me about the criminal assault you’ll find everything leads to it. And every time the question of the assault comes up the suspicion comes up too.’
‘Well, need it? It’s come up now, certainly. Perhaps it could be eradicated by your answering the question. I wonder if you realize how foolish your original refusal to answer was? I wonder if you realize how very close you were to being charged? Or if you realize the extent to which that charge – rather, I should say, the failure of the charge to be made – depended almost exclusively on Miss Manners’s vigorous rebuttal of any suggestion that you were involved in any way whatever? If she had shown the slightest uncertainty, if she had – however reluctantly – admitted that in all fairness she could not actually swear you weren’t among those who attacked her, in the dark, suddenly, then you would have been charged and tried. I put it to you, if you had been charged and tried, in court, been put on oath, would you in those circumstances have refused to answer this question?’
