Mizukami Iwao

Case Summary

The defendant, Warrant Officer Mizukami Iwao, was alleged to have been involved in two separate incidents.

Mizukami was first accused of beating two victims, Basant Lal and Ijaz Ali, with a stick after they were unable to provide him with the whereabouts of a coolie suspected of being a British spy.

A few days later, Mizukami ordered two other victims, Ram Swamy and Ghulam Nabi, to be taken into custody after they were suspected of plotting to kill Japanese soldiers with a knife following a British air raid. While in custody, Mizukami was accused of beating and torturing both victims, resulting in the death of Ram.

For more information see:

http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/715ef8/ 

http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/5ab0fd/

http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/d7b93b/

Mizukami's acquittal and the court's interventions showed its concern of the lack of evidence showing that a war crime was committed.

The second prosecution witness, Ram Hari, was also made to demonstrate the beatings administered by Mizukami on Basant Lal and Ijaz Ali.

The court also took time to shed light on the nature of the Court of Inquiry in the Andamans. The object of the Court of Inquiry was merely to decide whether there was a war crime charge to be made against an accused person, and to give the convening officer some idea of what form the charge would take.