The actions were controversial even at the time. The future Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, then a junior officer serving in the Delhi campaign, would later call it a "blot" and criticised "an otherwise brilliant officer" for exposing himself to criticism. Other first hand accounts, such as William W. Ireland, also questioned the exigency of his actions. Hodson's service record showed that he had often behaved in arbitrary fashion before, and he had previously been removed from civil duties by the then Governor General of India, Lord Dalhousie.