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प्रश्न
Read the excerpt, from a British newspaper, given below and answer the question that follows:
| What does the Viceroy propose doing? It is, in a few words, to bind, for the first time in history, the European British subjects of Her Majesty in the interior of India to submit to be tried on criminal charges by a native of the country, provided he belong to the covenanted Civil Service and get the power from Government. Europeans criminally accused have hitherto been able to claim a trial by one of their own countrymen. The right of making this claim is to be taken away. |
Which Bill is being proposed by the Viceroy to in the above excerpt? What was its implication on the Indian judicial system?
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उत्तर
The Viceroy was proposing the Ilbert Bill (1883).
Implication: it would remove the long-standing exemption that prevented Indian (native) magistrates of the covenanted Civil Service from trying European British subjects, i.e., senior Indian judges would be allowed to try Europeans on criminal charges. The proposal provoked strong European opposition, was subsequently modified (diluting its original effect and adding safeguards for Europeans), and helped expose racial privileges in the colonial judicial system while intensifying Indian political/nationalist agitation.
