Date: 27/09/2021 Shift: 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM Q. No: 77

In 1919 the British made a new law named the Rowlatt Act. Under this law, the government got many powers, including the ability to arrest people and keep them in prisons without a trial. They also obtained the power to stop newspapers from reporting and printing news. The people called this act the Black Act. Indians protested against this law in many places.

The positive impact of reform was seriously undermined in 1919 by the Rowlatt Act, named after the recommendations made the previous year to the Imperial Legislative Council by the Rowlatt Commission, which had been appointed to investigate “seditious conspiracy.” The Rowlatt Act, also known as the Black Act, vested the Viceroy’s government with extraordinary powers to quell sedition by silencing the press, detaining political activists without trial, and arresting any individuals suspected of sedition or treason without a warrant. In protest, a nationwide cessation of work (hartal) was called, marking the beginning of widespread, although not nationwide, popular discontent.

The agitation reached a peak in Amritsar (Punjab, India). In Amritsar, on 13th April 1919, about 10,000 Indians had assembled to protest against the Rowlatt Act. The British military commander, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire at the civilians without any warning. The troops fired 1,650 times. Some historians estimate that the troops killed 379 and injured about 1,137 people. This incident came to be known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. With this killing of innocent people, the British lost the trust of the Indian people. Congress forced Britishers to investigate massacre of Jallianwala later, a tehkikat committee was made by congress.

A: In Jallianwala Bagh Massacre the troops killed 379 and injured about 1,137 people.
B: In 1919 the British made a new law named the Rowlatt Act.