WAR- CHRONICLE

The English inflict corporal Punishment on Indians.
Confidential. No. 3/3 (A).
Headquarters, Indian Army Corps,
Dated, 225* October, 1914.
Memorandum for the guidance of Officers of the Indian Army Corps.
1. Under the provisions of I. A. A. 45, a sentence of corporal
punishment can legally be awarded by a court-martial for any offence
committed on active service by a person subject to that act and
under the rank of Warrant Officer. The G. O. C, Indian Army
Corps, directs, however, that such sentences shall not be awarded
except in the case of persons convicted of:
(a) Serious offences against the person or property of inhabitants
of the country, tried under I. A. A. 41 ;
(b) Housebreaking for plunder, or plundering, whether tried as
in (a) or under I. A. A. 25 (j);
(c) Sentry or member of guard plundering, etc., under I. A. A.
'. 2 6 (c);
(d) Disgraceful conduct under I. A. A. 31.
2. Officers convening Summary General Courts-Martial will
invariably direct (under I. A. A. 98 [1] [c]) that, if a sentence of
corporal punishment is awarded, the 2Jroceedings are to be sent to
them for confirmation. Except when reference is not, with due
regard to the exigencies of the service, practicable, all such cases
should be referred to the D. J. A. G., Indian Army Corps, for report
before confirmation.
3. Corporal punishment inflicted under I. A. A. 24 (2) will be
restricted to cases of persons committing the offences mentioned in
paragraph (1) above.
4. Corporal punishment will not be inflicted in the presence
of British or other European Troops, or of civilians.
5. In the opinion of the Army Corps Commander, the offence
of rape in this country should be punished most severely, and the
sentence awarded should therefore not be less than the maximum.
6. A copy of this order will be in possession of every British
Officer of Artillery and Indian Units in the Indian Army Corps.
A copy will be placed before every Court-Martial held under Indian
Military Law in the Army Corps.
W. E. O'Leary, Colonel,
Assistant Adjutant General,
Indian Army Corps.
Not ordy accounts and reports of German troojjs, but many
memorandums of the enemy, which were captured by us, have
shown to what cruel plundering French and Belgian hamlets were
3*
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