The defence of civil rights became an integral part of the freedom struggle with the nationalists spreading modern democratic ideas through an unending campaign. Civil rights included the freedom of expression, thought, association, and the press. The arrest of Tilak and several other leaders and journalists in 1897, as well as the arrest and deportation of the Natu brothers without a trial, sparked widespread public outrage. It was the Moderates and the Liberals who kept the issue of civil liberties alive within the press and the legislative bodies. In this article we will learn about the defence of civil rights which will be helpful for UPSC exam preparation.

One of the many inconsistencies of British colonial administration in India was that it introduced Indians to Western liberal principles yet could not tolerate them when they were incompatible with the regime's goals. In this environment, the civil liberties movement in India began almost immediately after the British Empire was founded, at the initiative of the English-educated urban middle class, which was confronted with problems of plain repression.

Defence of Civil Rights - Background

• The early phase of nationalist movement focussed more on political propaganda and education, formation and propagation of nationalist ideology and consolidation of public opinion.
• For this purpose the press proved a crucial tool in the hands of the nationalists.
• The INC in its early days relied solely on the press to propagate its resolutions and proceedings.
• Many newspapers emerged during these years under distinguished and fearless journalists. These included:
  • Hindu and Swadesamitran under G. Subramaniya Aiyar
  • The Bengalee under Surendranath Banerjea
  • Voice of India under Dadabhai Naoroji
  • Amrita Bazar Patrika under Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh
  • Indian Mirror under N.N. Sen
  • Kesari (in Marathi) and Maharatta (in English) under Balgangadhar Tilak
  • Sudharak under Gopal Krishna Gokhale
  • Hindustan and Advocate under G.P. Verma.
• Other main newspapers included
  • Tribune and Akbar-i-am in Punjab
  • Gujarati, Indu Prakash, Dhyan Prakash and Kal in Bombay
  • Som Prakash, Banganivasi and Sadharani in Bengal.
• These newspapers were not established as profit-making business ventures but were seen as rendering national and public service.
• The Government on its part had enacted many strident laws, such as Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code against anti-British propoganda.
• The national movement, from its very beginning, stood for the freedom of press.
• The Indian newspapers became highly critical of Lord Lytton’s administration especially regarding its inhuman treatment to victims of the famine of 1876-77.
• The government kept striking back with unjust laws curtailing press freedom.

Press Ordinance of 1823

• John Adams, successor to the Marquis of Hastings, issued a Press Ordinance in 1823 prohibiting publication of newspapers and other periodicals without a license.
• This led to the first civil-political petition from the Indians to the British government.
• Ram Mohan Roy, Chandra Kumar Tagore, Dwaraka Nath Tagore, Hara Chandra Ghosh, Gauri Charan Banerjee and Prasanna Kumar Tagore, together submitted a petition to the Supreme Court at Calcutta seeking a hearing of objections to the ordinance.
• When the plea was let down by the court, Ram Mohan wrote a petition to the King, saying that the ordinance would deny his loyal subjects’ right to communicate their condition to the King.
• Written in the most polite and loyal language, this petition may be said to be the first Indian manifesto of press freedom.

The Vernacular Press Act

• Following the 1857 riots, Lord Canning reinstated censorship.
• Three Indian papers - Doorbin, Sultan-ul-Akbar and Samachar Sudhavarshan - were persecuted for writing 'seditious' articles.
• Under this Act, any Indian-language newspaper's printer and publisher might be forced to sign a bond promising not to publish anything that would incite discontent with the government or animosity amongst people of different races, castes, and religions among British subjects.
• A big meeting was held in the Town Hall at Calcutta in protest against the Act.
• H.M. Mody, a liberal politician of Bombay, called the Act 'utterly uncalled for, unduly repressive in character and inspired by sinister motives.'
• In an article in the Times of India, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta severely criticized the Act.
• The Act however exempted English-language papers that were guilty of the strongest criticism of the government.
• In a clever move exploiting this, Amrita Bazar Patrika, an English-Bengali bi-lingual newspaper from Bengal, changed to English language overnight.
• In Madras, where pre-censorship was already in place, G. Subramanya Iyer published The Hindu.
• The public outcry was so intense that the pre-censorship clause was deleted the same year (1878). The Act was abolished in 1882 by Lytton's liberal successor, Ripon.
• The extremist leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak took over the two Marathi journals, Keshari and Maratha, in 1891. He and his papers were naturally subjected to persecution.

Official Secrets Amendment Bill

• The Government introduced the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill in the Supreme Legislative Council in 1903.
• It was aiming to equalize civil and military affairs. This would severely restrict press freedom.
• Gopal Krishan Gokhale opposed the bill 'reminding the Government that there was no legal instrument for enforcing the responsibility of the Government to the people, in this country’.

Newspapers (Incitement to Offenses) Act

• The Act was passed in 1908 which empowered the magistrates to confiscate the press for publishing articles that promoted violence.
• Tilak was jailed in Mandalay (Mayanmar) for six years. Surendra Nath Banerjea and some others were put behind the bars for different periods within British India.
• Bengali newspapers - Yugantar, Sandhya and Bandematam associated with revolutionary organizations, were banned.

Methods of Defence of Civil Rights

There were a variety of ways in which the issues of Civil Rights were raised during the freedom struggle. These included:

• Inclusion of civil rights issues in the agenda of the struggle.
• Making demands from the government.
• Creating awareness among the people about colonial oppression and denial of human rights.
• Organizing protests.

Conclusion

Civil rights are the cornerstone of liberal democracy, and they entail a fight against authoritarianism and tyranny, whether domestic or foreign. It was the impacts of Western liberal concepts on India's educated middle class which grew civil rights demands. The main demands were journalistic freedom, justice, and safety from repression. The fight for civil freedoms was mostly fought along constitutional lines.