Salaams

Sir Michael O'Dwyer was Governor of the Punjab during the Amritsar riots of 1919.

Sir Sankaran Nair, member of the Indian Government, recently published a book about Sir Michael's administration in which he charged that Indians had been flogged, etc.

Sir Michael read the book, brought suit for libel against Sir Sankaran.

In the witness stand the ex-Governor admitted that Indians had been flogged, but qualified his statement by adding: "Floggings in India are not inflicted with cat-o'-nine-tails but always with bamboo, sometimes with a cane. They are mild compared with the cat."

He even went so far as to state that Indians were flogged for failure to salaam British officers. But he endeavored to explain this away by asserting: "At that time there were rumors circulating about that the British raj in India was going and there was rebellion about. This order [requiring the salaam] was one of the means by which it was sought to bring home to the Indian people that this was not so."