(a) Compulsory economic support to war efforts.
(b) Imprisonment without trial and summary procedures for trial.
(c) Suppression of the Khilafat Movement.
(d) Imposition of restrictions on freedom of the press.
Answer: (b)
The popularly known Rowlatt Act was officially called the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act. It was based on the recommendations made in the previous year to the Imperial Legislative Council by the Rowlatt Commission, headed by the British judge, Sir Sidney Rowlatt, to investigate the ‘seditious conspiracy’ of the Indian people.
Option (b) is correct: The Rowlatt committee had recommended that activists should be deported or imprisoned without trial for two years, and that even possession of seditious newspapers would be adequate evidence of guilt. The act allowed political activists to be tried without juries or even imprisoned without trial. It allowed the arrest of Indians without warrant on the mere suspicion of ‘treason’. Such suspects could be tried in secrecy without recourse to legal help. All the elected Indian members of the Imperial Legislative Council voted against the bill, but they were in a minority and easily overruled by the official nominees. All the elected Indian members—who included Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Mazhar Ul Haq – resigned in protest.
The Elimination Technique
Rowlett Act is a very famous event in modern Indian history. This question is directly asking about the aim of the
Rowlatt Act. If any aspirant is not aware about the event, still he/she can easily hit the question.
O The Rowlatt Act is related to the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. So, option (a) and option (c) can be easily eliminated.
O After eliminating option (a) and Option (c), confusion still remains with option (b) and option (d). But if we read the statements carefully, we will find that the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre was a disastrous event in Indian modern history, a mere restriction on freedom of press may not result in such events. Therefore, Option (b) is the correct answer
