Lathis for Congressmen

Because Gandhites are beaten every day, bored white correspondents have almost ceased to report their sufferings, but the British Labor Party still keeps in touch with goings on in India. Released last week was a report from Madras by Laborite Peter Freeman, former M. P. Reported he:

"I was going along Mount Road, the main street of Madras, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when I saw on the other side of the road about a dozen Indians, walking quietly along, one of their number carrying a flag. On inquiry I was informed that they were members of the [Gandhite Indian National] Congress. Such action is illegal in India.

"A policeman whom they passed on their route snatched the flag out of the hands of the man carrying it and without further ado the police officer started hitting him repeatedly with a heavy lathi as hard as he could hit, on every part of his body, including many blows on his head. The man was knocked down, and became unconscious after a short time, but the rain of blows continued, even while he was lying maimed and helpless on the ground.

"By this time, a car load of about 20 additional police had arrived, all armed with heavy lathis. Other members of the little group were then attacked and beaten mercilessly. There was no retaliation of any kind from the Congressmen.

"In one case the man's nerve failed him, and he attempted to run away, but he was chased by four or five of the police officers and hit ruthlessly on every part of the body, including the head. How he was able to stand the heavy blows without losing consciousness I do not know, though he attempted to ward off the blows with his bare arms, but with little effect. Eventually he was able to escape and made his way amongst the crowd.

"No aggressive action had been shown by any members of the little procession and no kind of counterattack was made.

No crowd had collected. No inquiry was made and no attempt to arrest these men was made at the time, though other members of the group were subsequently arrested. No threats were made to the police, and there was no danger of any kind of attack, as every member of the group was unarmed and walked quietly and peacefully along until stopped.

". . . Such sights are, unfortunately, of almost daily occurrence in nearly every large town throughout India."

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