Report of the Committee appointed by the Secretary of State for India to inquire into the rules, regulations, and practice in the Indian cantonments and elsewhere in India, with regard to prostitution and to the treatment of venereal disease : together with minutes of evidence and appendices.

  • Great Britain. India Office. Committee on Prostitution in India.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee appointed by the Secretary of State for India to inquire into the rules, regulations, and practice in the Indian cantonments and elsewhere in India, with regard to prostitution and to the treatment of venereal disease : together with minutes of evidence and appendices. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Vll A pp. IL Despatch, 15th Oct. 1888, 10 That Circular Memorandum was expressly condemned by the India Office as tg&pSr beinff perfectlyinconsistent with a subsequent. Report from the Quartermaster-General, dated 2nd AuRust 1887, and absolutely indefensible, and strict inquiry was ordered ; ^ Kf^y^iliqS^ lSbere is no evidence, and Lord Roberts, while admitting before ufhfeXilre^Mily for all orders issued in his name, as Commander-in-Chief for the „r. HmebS ™ not clear as to having actually seen the draft circular, some parts of which he strong; Reprobated. We deemed it therefore right and proper, in order to ascertain whb^^?S»ontebl€ in the matter, to examine Lieut.-General Chapman who ,s now ™Vr$^&™ to the circumstances under which that Circular Memorandum was prepared and issued. There appeared to us to be a discrepancy between his evidence and that of Lord Roberts which we were unable to reconcile. 11 In consequence of that condemnation of the Circular Memorandum of 17th June 1886 by the Secretary of State, and before the passing of the Resolution of the Hon« Commons the Government of India had prohibited the residence'ofp^tates^ regimenta limits, and their accompanying troops to camp or on the march, and directed the cancel.ent of all circulars relating to that subject; and '-^^^ the despatch of Her Majesty's Secretary of State conveying that Resolution, the »* S£of India informed the Commander-in-Chief and all the Local Governmen and S of Departments, that it was the intention of the Government of India to cotidei tl e Rulef framed under the Cantonment Acts then existing and ihat « pending the is ue ofrevised Rules, the existing Rules should, in view of the Resolution of the « House of Commons, be so worked that there should be no compulsory examination ot « woTel no registration of women, and no granting of licenses to pract.se prostitution. 12 Acco.dingly, m Despatch No. 193, dated 15th October 1888, the Indian Government reported that The Indian Contagious Diseases Act and Act* or porfaonsof - Acts connected therewith, have been repealed, and that the residence of pro, tutes within regimental limits, or their accompanying troops to camps, or on the line ol '« ™ rch has been forbidden ; also that all circulars relating thereto have been cancelled « while, pending the approval of the revised Cantonment Rules framed under the new Ml « (Terely venereal diseases will be treated on precisely the same looting as other « contagious or infectious diseases), all compulsory examination of women all registration « of women and granting of licenses to practise prostitution have been pu; a stop o and the hospitals in which prostitutes may be treated are to be worked a, voluntary institutions. 13. In October, 1889, the new measure, viz., « The Cantonments Act, 1889/' was mssed and on the 21st day of December, the following draft Rules (which had been sealed after con derable correspondence, between the Secretary of State and Govern- ment Of India) were published for the information of person likely to be affected -d^- - tnereby, with an intimation that they would be taken into cons.deration on the. jm*^ expiry of three months. 1 As many hospitals as may be necessary, within or without the limits of the Cantonment as the C;ntonrnLuthority with the concurrence of the District Magistrate may determine shall be J^ffi^e exje/w wholly or in part of the Cantonment fund, for the treatment of persons suffering from infectious or contagious disorders. 2. A medical officer, to be appointed in such manner as the Local Government may direct, shall be in charge of every such hospital. 3 A person admitted to such a hospital shall be treated gratuitously, and if such person is without me^nsof support and is either-a resident of the Cantonment or^vvas £^to,£»£g£ on the request of the Cantonment authority, or of any officer of that autlonty bhall receive nom the Cantonment Fund such subsistence allowance not being ess than ^^^^gSSS^m time being fixed by the Local Government under Section 338 of the Code ol Civil 1 jocedure as the Cantonment authority may determine. 4. If the medical officer for the time being in charge of a hospital maintained under these rules for the treatment of persons suffering from any infectious or contagious disorder c r ^ « - ucS to the commanding officer of the Cantonment that any person is suffering, oi is supposed by sucr. medical officer t b buffering, from the disorder, and such person either refuses to go to the hospital Z^^^tChLA leaves it before such medical officer has pronounced such person to be frJe from thei disoS the Cantonment Magistrate may, on the application of such medical offic fo de'sudi personeto remove from the Caiuonment witliin 24 hours, ao^hibujuch person from remaining in or re-entering it without the written permission of such medical officer.