Page:Hyderabad in 1890 and 1891; comprising all the letters on Hyderabad affairs written to the Madras Hindu by its Hyderabad correspondent during 1890 and 1891 (IA hyderabadin1890100bangrich).pdf/55

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Page 47

"All cheques shall be prepared after auditing, on the sole responsibility of the City Branch, and they shall be passed after the signature of the Deputy Accountant-General."

In the face of this fact, Mr. Afzul Husain said in his judg- ment that the memo, had not been confirmed by the Nawab Mukhurrab Jung. In the latter part of the same judgment, Afzul Husain remarked: "He (Syed Ahmed one of the accused in the case) is not notorious like Jaya Rao for his misdemeanour" There was not a tittle of evidence before the Court to show that Jaya Rao was "notorious." When the pleader for the defence put Mr. Gya Persad, one of the witnesses, a question about Jaya Rao's behaviour as a subordinate, Mr. Afzul Husain himself disallowed it on the ground that the Government had no evidence to adduce against Jaya Rao's "general conduct." Yet we have this condemnation in the judgment. Then again, Syed Ahmed was let off because he had proved he had not par- ticipated in the money got by means of the fictitious cheques bearing his signature, and Jaya Rao was convicted because he had failed to show he had not received any portion of the money obtained by fraudulent means. The burden of proof, according to Afzul Husain, does not lie on the prosecution. Who has ever heard of the prosecution being allowed to restrict itself to formulating charges and the accused being compelled to prove the charges brought against them to be unfounded? But who is to judge of our Moglai Judges? They are privileged persons and their ways are not dreamt of in any philosophy in "the heavens above, the earth below, or the waters underneath."

You have, I believe, formed a clear idea of Afzul Husain's and Hafiz Ahmed Razakhan's "justice." I shall now illustrate briefly the method of administering justice which finds favour with two more Judges of the High Court, viz., Ali Raza Khan and Ekbal Ali. A police Ameen and a police Jamadar were once convicted of corruption by the then First Taluqdhar of the Parbhani District and committed to the sessions. The sessions Judge let off one by reason of his respectability, and punished