Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 117
Lecture Ludhiana 117 and told him to state the truth and only the truth. Even then, ‘Abdul- H am i d repeated the same old story he had related before the Deputy Commissioner. He had been told at the very start that the slightest deviation from his original state- ment would render him liable to prosecution, so he kept saying the same thing. So, the Police Captain told him that he had already related the same story, but the Deputy Commissioner was not satisfied that he was telling the truth. When Captain Le Marchand told him again to tell the truth, he started crying and fell upon the feet of the Captain, imploring him for pro- tection. The Captain reassured him and told him to go ahead and speak. At this, he came out with the truth, plainly confessed that he had been coerced into making his earlier statement and that he was absolutely never sent by Mirza Sahib to murder any- one. The Captain was overjoyed upon hearing this statement and sent a telegram to the Deputy Commissioner that he had solved the case. Consequently, the case came up once again for hearing at Gurdaspur, and Captain Le Marchand was sworn in, and he recorded his affidavit. I could see that the Deputy Commissioner was visibly pleased that the truth had come out. And he was furious at those Christians who had given false evidence against me. Addressing me, he said that I had the right to file a suit against those Christians, but as I detest litigation, I said I do not wish to pursue litigation—my claim is filed in the heavens. Upon this, Captain Douglas wrote down the judge- ment at that very moment. A large crowd had gathered there that day, and at the time for announcing the verdict, he said to me, ‘Congratulations! You are acquitted. ’ Now, tell me how virtuous this Empire is that when it came to justice and fairness, it did not favour a leader of their own religious group nor any other factor. At that time, I saw that the whole world was my enemy, and this is exactly what transpires