PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: No. 1. Government of India (Home Department) Notification, dated Simla, the 25th October, 1924. The following statement is published for general information :-A statement by His Excellency the Governor General of the reasons which have moved him, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 72 of the Government of India Act, to make and promulgate an Ordinance to supplement the ordinary criminal law in Bengal, under the title of the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 1924. J. CRERAR, Secy, to the Govt. of India. STATEMENT. 1. It is a matter of common knowledge that a revolutionary conspiracy existed during the years 1912-1917, which has left the most poignant memories of the misery and terror it created throughout Bengal. All other methods of dealing with this conspiracy having been tried without avail, it was not suppressed until its leaders were confined under the provisions of Regulation III of 1818, and many of its subordinate members dealt with under the Defence of India Act. After the Royal proclamation of 1919, most of these persons were released. Many forsook their connection with revolutionary crime and have not since returned to it. To the remainder, who have since showed themselves to be irreconcilable, the amnesty was, after the institution of the reformed system of Government, gradually extended, in the hope that under a new political era, they would recognise the duties and the advantages of good citizenship. This hope has not been realised. The majority of these still retained their faith in the efficacy of violence and assassination as political weapons. They speedily returned to their old methods and reorganised their old associations, taking care only to avoid the mistakes to which they attributed their previous failure. During the years 1920 to 1922 they carried on their activities under the cloak of the political movements then in progress, recruiting their followers and perfecting their organisation with a view to future action when opportunity offered. 2. Towards the end of 1922 the leaders of these conspiracies, believing that their objects would not be attained by the methods of the non-co-operation movement, decided to revert to methods of violence. The two main terrorist organisations had now been resuscitated; new members in large numbers were recruited; arms |