Write in your own words what you understand by the following sentence: They also began fighting for greater equality and wanted to change the idea of law from a set of rules that they were forced to obey, to law as including ideas of justice.
The Sedition Act of 1870 was a turning point in the struggle for freedom in India. According to the Sedition Act any person protesting or criticising the British government could be arrested without due trial.
Indian nationalists began protesting and criticising this arbitrary use of authority by the British. They also began fighting for greater equality and wanted to change the idea of law from a set of rules that they were forced to obey, to law as including ideas of justice.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the Indians started asserting themselves in the colonial courts.
The Indian Legal profession began emerging as a force to reckon with and the Indians demanded respect in the courts. Indians started using law to defend their legal rights.
Indian judges began to play a greater role in making decisions.
Thus the Indians played a major role in the evolution of the rule of law during the colonial period.
- The Indian Nationalists advocated for greater equality for Indians before the law.
- They also advocated bringing changes in the law which were derogatory and which were forced on Indians.