was pronounced containing the following and many other similar expressions of opinion: "It is impossible not to feel that the Plaintiff comes into Court under circumstances calculated to arouse suspicion, not only by reason of his extraordinary delay in preferring his claim—a delay which his counsel entirely failed to explain to our satisfaction—but because of the highly improbable and in certain respects incredible nature of many of the incidents of his story." "To express ourselves in the mildest way, we cannot but view this letter as an exceedingly suspicious document." "In short, there are in the case no original documents, because the originals were either—it is alleged—destroyed in the mutiny, or are withheld; and there is no oral proof, because all the persons, who could have deposed to any of the facts, are dead." "To ask us to believe this astounding piece of folly is no small demand upon our credulity." "The appearance of the document itself is most suspicious." "There is the gravest reason to doubt the authenticity of the signatures." "It was obvious that both these persons were telling a carefully prepared story." "We must dismiss it as wholly undeserving credence." "It is absolutely impossible to credit the plaintiff's assertion on this head." "This is a severe tax on our credulity." "The plaintiff's statements on all these matters and his explanation of his delay in coming into Court are incredible in the highest degree." This judgment was not pronounced till July, 1883, though—as clearly appears from the above extracts—the plaintiff's case was so utterly bad that the finding of the Lower Court might have been confirmed at once, without subjecting the unfortunate victim of the conspiracy to a long-protracted three years agony.
It is a most lamentable illustration of the total unfitness of any Indian district for independent self-government, that even in such a scandalous case as this, the plaintiff, who was an absolute pauper, was amply provided with funds by wealthy Muhammadans, simply because he was himself a Muhammadan and his attack was directed against a Hindu.
