Defence of India Act 1915

For other uses, see Defence of India Act (disambiguation).

Defence of India (Criminal Law Amendment) Act,1915
The Governor-General in Council
  • An Act to provide for special measures to secure the public safety and the defence of British India and for the more speedy trial of certain offences.
CitationAct No.IV of 1915
Territorial extentWhole of British India
Enacted byThe Governor-General in Council
Signed19 March 1915
Commenced19 March 1915
Repealed by
Act 4 of 1922
Status: Repealed

The Defence of India Act 1915, also referred to as the Defence of India Regulations Act, was an emergency criminal law enacted by the Governor-General of India in 1915 with the intention of curtailing the nationalist and revolutionary activities during and in the aftermath of the First World War.[1] It was similar to the British Defence of the Realm Acts, and granted the Executive very wide powers of preventive detention, internment without trial, restriction of writing, speech, and of movement. However, unlike the English law which was limited to persons of hostile associations or origin, the Defence of India act could be applied to any subject of the King,[1] and was used to an overwhelming extent against Indians. The passage of the act was supported unanimously by the non-official Indian members in the Viceroy's legislative council, and was seen as necessary to protect against British India from subversive nationalist violence. The act was first applied during the First Lahore Conspiracy trial in the aftermath of the failed Ghadar Conspiracy of 1915, and was instrumental in crushing the Ghadr movement in Punjab and the Anushilan Samiti in Bengal.[2][3] However its widespread and indiscriminate use in stifling genuine political discourse made it deeply unpopular, and became increasingly reviled within India. The extension of the law in the form of the Rowlatt Act after the end of World War I was opposed unanimously by the non-official Indian members of the Viceroy's council. It became a flashpoint of political discontent and nationalist agitation, culminating in the Rowlatt Satyagraha. The act was re-enacted during World War II as Defence of India act 1939. Independent India retained the law in a number of amended forms, which have seen use in proclaimed states of national emergency including Sino-Indian War, Bangladesh crisis, The Emergency of 1975 and subsequently the Punjab insurgency.

  1. ^ a b Horniman 1984, p. 44
  2. ^ Bates 2007, p. 118
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Popplewell210 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).