Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act, 1907

The Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act, 1907 was a 1907 law of British India enabling the government to prohibit any unauthorized political meeting by more than twenty persons in any province designated as a "proclaimed area" by provincial authorities.

The Act's scope extended to those provinces designated as "proclaimed areas" by the local government upon the governor general's notification in the Gazette of India of the provinces chosen as "proclaimed areas" of operation. The Act specified a single instance of such notification as valid for a period of six months, but expressly noted that this did not "prevent the Local Government from making any further notification in respect of the same area from time to time as it may think fit."[1]

The legislation prohibited public meetings of more than twenty persons held "for the furtherance or discussion of any subject likely to cause disturbance or public excitement or of any political subject or for the exhibition or distribution of any writing or printed matter relating to any such subject" unless the district superintendent of police or the commissioner of police were notified in writing at least three days in advance or unless permission from the district superintendent of police or the commissioner of police in writing was previously obtained.[1] The Act provided that any person promoting or conducting a prohibited meeting or delivering a "lecture, address, or speech on any subject likely to cause disturbance or public excitement" during an unsanctioned political meeting was to be "punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both."[1]

The Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act was discussed in the British Parliament in February 1908, when Parliament member V. H. Rutherford questioned the Act's effects on "the interests of good relations between the rulers and the ruled." Donald Mackenzie Smeaton defended the legislation on the ground that "the Regulation of 1818 and Subsidiary Local Regulations conferring similar powers were of immense value in and after the pacification of Burma in ridding the country not only of the enemies of the Government, but of the enemies of the people. . . ."[2]

The Act was extended until 31 March 1911, when a similar act, the Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act, 1911, was passed to replace it.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Lawyer Vol. VIII, Part II. (1907). pp. 47-48.
  2. ↑ The Parliamentary Debates (Authorised Edition), Fourth Series. Volume CLXXXIII (1908). London: Wyman and Sons. p. 1526.
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