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The '''Rowlatt Committee''' was a Sedition Committee appointed in 1917 by the [[British India]]n Government with [[Sidney Rowlatt]], an English judge, as its president.<br />
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==Background==<br />
The purpose of the Rowlatt Committee was to evaluate [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence|political terrorism in India]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/archives/the-rowlatt-committee/article23446482.ece|title=The Rowlatt Committee|date=2018-04-06|work=The Hindu|access-date=2020-01-26|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> especially in the [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] and [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]]s, its impact, and the links with the German government and the [[Bolshevik]]s in Russia.{{sfnp|Tinker|1968|p=92|ps=}}<ref>{{cite journal |author=Leonard A. Gordon |date=February 1968 |title=Portrait of a Bengal Revolutionary |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=197–216 |jstor=2051747 |doi=10.2307/2051747 }}</ref> It was instituted towards the end of World War I when the Indian revolutionary movement had been especially active and had achieved considerable success, potency and momentum and [[Hindu–German Conspiracy|massive assistance]] had been received from [[German Empire|Germany]], which planned to destabilise British India.{{sfnp|Collett|2007|p=218|ps=}} These included supporting and financing Indian seditionist organisations [[Berlin Committee|in Germany]] and [[Ghadar Party|in United States]] as well as a destabilisation in the political situation in neighbouring [[Afghanistan]] following [[Niedermayer-Hentig Expedition|a diplomatic mission]] that had attempted to rally the Amir of Afghanistan against British India. Attempts were also made by the [[Provisional Government of India]] established in Afghanistan following the mission to establish contacts with the [[Bolshevik]]s. A further reason for institution of the committee was emerging civil and labour unrest in India around the post-war recession - such as the Bombay mill worker's strikes and unrest in Punjab{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} - and the [[1918 flu pandemic]] that killed nearly 13 million people in the country.{{sfnp|Chandler|Wright|2001|p=179|ps=}}<br />
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The evidence produced before the committee substantiated the German link, although no conclusive evidence was found for a significant contribution or threat from the Bolsheviks. On the recommendations of the committee, the [[Rowlatt Act]], an extension of the [[Defence of India Act 1915]], was enforced in response to the threat in Punjab and Bengal.{{sfnp|Tinker|1968|p=92|ps=}}<br />
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The Rowlatt Act had a significant impact on the political situation of India, irrevocably placing the country on a path of political action headed by [[Gandhi]] that ultimately dominated the [[Indian independence movement]] for the next 20 years. Also known as the Black Act, it vested the [[Viceroy of India|Viceroy's]] government with extraordinary powers to quell sedition by silencing the press, detaining the political activists without trial, and arresting without warrant any individuals suspected of sedition or treason. In protest, a nationwide cessation of work (''[[hartal]]'') was called, marking the beginning of widespread, although not nationwide, popular discontent.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}<br />
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The agitation unleashed by the acts culminated on 13 April 1919, in the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]] in [[Amritsar]], Punjab when the British military commander, Brigadier-General [[Reginald Dyer]], blocked the main entrance to the [[Jallianwallah Bagh]], a walled-in courtyard in Amritsar, and ordered his soldiers to fire into an unarmed and unsuspecting crowd of some 6,000 people who had assembled there in defiance of a ban. A total of 1,650 rounds were fired, killing 379 people (as according to an official British commission; Indian estimates ranged as high as 1,500<ref>Ackerman, Peter, and Duvall, Jack, ''A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict'' p. 74.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=October 2018}}) and wounding 1,200 in the episode, which dispelled wartime hopes of home rule and goodwill in a frenzy of post-war reaction.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}<br />
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==Committee members==<br />
*[[Sidney Rowlatt]] - President<br />
*J. D. V. Hodge - Secretary (a member of the Bengal Civil Service)<br />
*[[Basil Scott]] - Member ([[List of Chief Justices of the Bombay High Court|Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court]])<br />
* [[C. V. Kumaraswami Sastri]] - Member (judge of [[Madras High Court]])<br />
*Verney Lovett - Member (member of Board of Revenue for [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Provinces]])<br />
*P. C. Mitter - Member (member of [[Bengal Legislative Council]])<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Hindu–German Conspiracy]]<br />
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==References==<br />
'''Citations'''<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
'''Bibliography'''<br />
{{refbegin}}<br />
* {{Citation<br />
| last = Tinker<br />
| first = Hugh<br />
| title = India in the First World War and after. 1918-19: From War to Peace.<br />
| journal=Journal of Contemporary History<br />
| volume=3<br />
| issue=4<br />
| date=Oct 1968<br />
| pages=89–107<br />
| url = <br />
| issn = 0022-0094<br />
| doi = 10.1177/002200946800300407<br />
}}.<br />
* {{Citation<br />
| last =Collett<br />
| first = Nigel<br />
| year = 2007<br />
| edition=New<br />
| title = The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer<br />
| url = <br />
| publisher = Hambledon & London<br />
| isbn = 978-1-85285-575-8<br />
}}.<br />
* {{Citation<br />
| last1 =Chandler<br />
| first1 = Malcolm<br />
| last2=Wright<br />
| first2=John<br />
| year = 2001<br />
| title = Modern World History.<br />
| url = <br />
| publisher = Heinemann Educational Publishers. 2nd Review edition<br />
| isbn = 978-0-435-31141-4<br />
}}<br />
{{refend}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
*{{cite journal |first1=J. Daniel |last1=Elam |first2=Chris |last2=Moffat |year=2016 |title=On the Form, Politics and Effects of Writing Revolution |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=513–524 |doi=10.1080/00856401.2016.1199293 |doi-access=free }}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*[https://archive.org/details/seditionreport00indirich Rowlatt Committee report]<br />
{{Hindu-German Conspiracy}}<br />
{{Indian committees}}<br />
{{Indian independence movement}}<br />
<br />
{{authority control}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Indian independence movement]]<br />
[[Category:1918 in British India]]<br />
[[Category:Hindu–German Conspiracy]]<br />
[[Category:Government agencies of India]]<br />
[[Category:1918 in India]]</div>2409:4043:2E8E:290A:D94C:B0FB:AA32:7F5D