Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/765

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for them as I am making them now, but, as it is, I undertake to prove the substance of every one of these charges if not the very letter and much more of them, before any impartial tribunal of men or women uncon- nected with the Government. I invite Pandit Malavi- yaji and those who are performing the thankless task of securing a round table conference to form an impartial stand or fall.

It is the physical and brutal ill-treatment of huma- nity which has made many of my co-workers and myself impatient of life itself and in the face of these things I don't wish to take public time by dealing in detail what I mean by abuse of the common law of the country but I cannot help correcting the mis-impression which is likely to be created in connection with the Bombay disorders, disgraceful and deplorable as they -were. Let it be remembered that, of the persons who lost their lives, over 45 were Non-Co operators or their sympathisers, the hooligans, and of the 400 wound- ed, to be absolutely on the safe side, over 350 were also derived from the same class, I do not complain ; the Co-operators, the Non-Co-operators and the friendly hooligans got what they deserved : they began the -violence and they reaped the reward. Let it also not be forgotten that, with all deference to the Bombay Government, it was Non-Co-operators, ably assisted by Independents and Co-operators, who brought peace out .of that chaos of the two days following the fateful 17th.

I must totally deny the imputation that the appli- cation of the Criminal Law Amendment Act was confined .to associations the majority of the members of- which

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