Rowlatt Acts, legislation passed by the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislature of British India in February 1919. The acts allowed certain political cases to be tried without juries and permitted internment of suspects without trial.
The Rowlatt Acts were much resented by an aroused Indian public. All nonofficial Indian members of the council (i.e., those who were not officials in the colonial government) voted against the acts. Mahatma Gandhi organized a protest movement that led directly to the Massacre of Amritsar (April 1919) and subsequently to his noncooperation movement (1920–22).
Note: The acts were never actually implemented.
