holding back the truth, or,
when witnesses and circumstantial Evidence have made
a clear case against him, first admit his guilt and then Suddenly retract the admission, to the obstruction and hindrance of justice, then the Magistrate betakes himself to cruel torture, whether it be pinching the Prisoner's flesh, forcing him to kneel on chains, or if these methods fail, crushing the knees, upon the application of which the whole
the Case immediately comes to
light - But these Methods are not
specifically admitted into the Penal Code
213
as legitimate forms of torture, and if any
of his
Officer should incur the censure of
Experience,
or the denouncement of an
unscrupulous people seeking for a pretext,
for having made use
of them, he is immediately classed amongst those who
actually do employ tyrannical and illegal Modes of torture, and is made to suffer an equal punishment with theirs, and in this way a great amount of injustice is done to the Official body. After due consideration, therefore, your Memorialists pray that hereafter all
Courts when putting the question by torture
be Empowered