Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 109
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 109 returned to him. This could not be done, as the warrant had not reached the District Magistrate ofGurdaspur and it could not be discovered where and how it had miscarried. The District Magistrate of Gurdaspur, Captain M. W. Douglas, issued a notice to Ahmad to appear and show cause why he sould not be bound over to keep the peace. He appeared in court on 10 August and the statements of Abdul Hamid and some other witnesses began to be taken down. This kept the Magistrate occupied till 13 August. He found that there were serious discrepancies between the statement of Abdul Hamid made before the District Magistrate of Amritsar and his statement before him. He was also not satisfied with Abdul Hamid's demeanour in the witness box. He found that Abdul Hamid was living under the care of the Mission authorities at Batala, and as his statement was being constantly enlarged and added to, Captain Douglas asked the District Superintendent of Police, Gurdaspur, to take charge of him and question him independently. Mr Ie Marchand, the District Superintendent, sent for Abdul Hamid and began to examine him. He had taken down a part of his statement when Abdul Hamid burst into tears, fell at Mr Ie Marchand's feet and confessed that he had made a false statement at the instance of some of the mis- sionaries. He had been guarded by them for several days, was in a state of great misery and had even comtemplated suicide. He subsequently made a similar statement in court and Cap- tain Douglas, on putting him through a thorough examina- tion, was satisfied that the charge against Ahmad was utterly false and baseless. Thus, the only course open to him was to discharge Ahmad honourably, which he did, and he told Ahmad that ifhe desired to prosecute Dr Clark for malicious prosecution, he, the District Magistrate, would grant him leave to do so. Ahmad replied that he had no desire to prosecute Dr Clark before an earthly court. His complaint was pending before the Highest Judge. Dr Clark died on 16 May 1900. The Rt Rev George Alfred Lefroy was Bishop of Lahore in