The Rowlatt Act, 1918 and the Amritsar Massacre, 1919

 The Rowlatt Act

The British had offered concessions in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms which they had hoped would win the support of the Indian people. However, they had every intention of taking strong and effective action against any element in India which opposed British rule. In December 1917, a committee was formed under Justice Rowlatt to investigate revolutionary activity in India.

The committee reported in April 1918 and it suggested that there was a definite growth of revolutionary activity in India, which should be dealt with as a matter of urgency. The committee recommended that some of the emergency measures of the Defence of India Act should be retained permanently. Most controversial amongst these were:

• Arrest without warrant;

• Detention without bail;

• Right of the provincial government to order people where to live.

Reactions to the Rowlatt Act

The proposals caused uproar in India as they appeared to go against two of the central principles of British justice, namely, trial by jury and safeguards against illegal imprisonment. Jinnah (RA) resigned from the Imperial Legislative Council in protest and Gandhi launched a hartal against the proposals. This was an event in which Indians suspended businesses and went on strikes and would fast, pray and hold public meetings against the 'Black Act' as a sign of their opposition and civil disobedience would be offered against the law. Throughout April 1919, there were strikes and demonstrations across India but the Viceroy ignored the opposition, accepted the recommendations and the Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919.

Due to the introduction of these reforms there was much dissatisfaction in the small provinces because they had lost their power. The strikes and demonstrations caused the British to ban anti-government publications and to forbid public meetings. Despite this, unrest continued, particularly in the Punjab. In early 1919, two nationalist leaders, Dr. Satyapal and Dr. Kitchlew were deported without trial.

The Amritsar Massacre

On 10 April, rioting started in the city of Amritsar and two banks were attacked. Five Europeans were also killed in the rioting. General Dyer, the British commander in the area, was determined to restore order. He banned all public meetings in the city and was angered when an estimated crowd of 20,000 turned up for a peaceful demonstration at a public park called ‘Jallianwala Bagh’ in Amritsar. This crowd included Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.

The park had only narrow entrances and was surrounded by a 5 foot wall. General Dyer stationed his troops at the entrances and, without warning, fired on the unarmed crowd of men, women and children. The troops fired over 1600 rounds. No one knows exactly how many people were killed, but estimates suggest around 400, with a further 1200 wounded or injured in the panic to try to flee the bullets.

Reactions to the Amritsar Massacre

General Dyer stated that he had fired on the crowd in the park to make sure that the people of the Punjab understood that they should obey British rule. Other measures soon followed. In Amritsar, men were flogged in public and made to crawl on hands and knees down a street where an English woman had been attacked. A crowd meeting illegally at Gujranwala was bombed from the air. The British also carried out numerous sentences of death, exile or imprisonment to maintain order.

The Hunter Committee:

A special enquiry, the Hunter Committee, was set up in England to investigate what Dyer had done in Amritsar. As a result of its findings, Dyer was eventually removed from active service, but he received no further punishment. In the eyes of many Europeans, he was a hero who had shown local troublemakers what would happen if they did not conform to British rule. Not surprisingly, the Indian people were highly insulted by the British failure to punish Dyer.

The first manifestation of this law was in Amritsar where the Congress had planned to hold a political meeting. The government, in pursuance of the powers given to it by the Act, arrested two Congress leaders to maintain peace. Rioting resulted and to control it the military fired at the crowd, killing two people. In retaliation the crowd burned several government buildings and killed five Europeans.