The Rowlatt Committee was a Sedition Committee appointed in 1918 by the British Indian Government with Mr. Justice Rowlatt, an English judge, as its president.

The Rowlatt Act, also known as the Black Act, was instituted on the Rowlatt Committee’s recommendations. It had a significant impact on the political situation of India, placing her on a path of political movement headed by Gandhi that ultimately dominated the Indian Independence movement for the next 20 years. The Act gave the Viceroy’s government 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 was called, marking the beginning of widespread, although not nationwide, popular discontent.

The agitation unleashed by the Act culminated on 13 April 1919, in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, Punjab.