2012 · Modern HistoryPrevious Year Question
Q70.
The Rowlatt Act aimed at
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

Explanation

The Rowlatt Act (1919) — formally the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act — allowed the British government to imprison any person without trial for up to two years and use summary procedures for trial of suspected terrorists. It effectively extended the emergency wartime powers into peacetime. Named after Sidney Rowlatt, the act became a symbol of British repression and triggered the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.