Question

Which of the following acts enabled the arrest and deportation of any person on mere suspicion of plotting and revolt against the British?
1. Indian Council Act
2. Pitt’s India Act
3. Rowlatt Act
4. Charter Act

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : Rowlatt Act

The correct answer is the Rowlatt Act.

• Rowlatt Act (1919)
  • In 1919, a Sedition Committee headed by justice Rowlatt led to the Rowlatt Act.
  • This act authorized the government to imprison any person without trial and conviction by the Court of Law for 2 years.
  • The law also enabled the government to suspend the right of Habeas Corpus which had been the foundation of civil liberties in Britain.
• Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (13^th April 1919 AD)
  • The arrest of Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and Dr. Satyapal on 10^th April 1919 AD, under the Rowlatt Act in connection with Satyagraha caused serious unrest in Punjab.
  • A public meeting was held on 13^th April 1919 AD in a park called Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar.
  • As soon as the meeting started, General Reginald Dyer ordered the indiscriminate heavy firing.
  • The crowd of people had no way out to escape. As a result, hundreds of men, women, and children were killed and more than 1,200 people wounded.
  • Due to this massacre, R.N. Tagore returned to ‘Knighthood’ and Shankaran Nair resigned from the Executive Council of Viceroy.

• Pitt’s India Act was passed in the year 1784.
• The first Charter Act was passed in the year 1793 AD.