British rulers regulation to curb the freedom of Press in India

The circulation of newspapers during the early period of British rule in India never exceeded hundred or two hundred. There was hardly any danger of public opinion being subverted in India. 

The regulations by the British Rule to curb the freedom of Press in India was considered as one of the major attacks on civil freedom. Regulation started with the censorship of Press Act of 1799, which implemented war time Press restrictions, including that of pre-censorship, followed by the Licensing. Regulations of 1823 made the starting of a press without license as a penal offence. The Licensing Act of 1857 removed the relaxations brought about by the Press Act of 1835. 

During Lytton's period Vernacular Press Act was enacted, it had the following provisions: 

(1) Any Indian publisher may be called upon by the district magistrate to enter into a bond undertaking that the published articles would not cause any disaffection to the government. 

(2) The decision of the Magistrate was made final, and no appeal could be made in the court of law. 

This Act came to be called as 'Gagging Act' as it discriminated between the English and the Vernacular Press In 1908, the- Newspaper Act was enacted which empowered the government to confiscate press property which published objectional materials against the government. It intended to check extremist nationalist activities. 

The Indian Press Act of 1910 revived almost all the features of the Vernacular Press Act. Then came the Indian Press Act in 1931, which gave wide ranging powers to the provisional governments to quash publication that undermined the government's authority during the civil disobedience movement. However, inspite of all these limitations, the Indian Press emerged successfully in playing the role of an effective weapon in the nationalist struggle. 

The Indian Press Act, 1910 empowered the Local Government to demand at the time of Registration security not less than Rs. 500 and not more than Rs. 2000 and the Indian Press (Emergency Powers) Act 1931 which was applied in 1932 as criminal Amendment Act included all possible acvities calculated to undermine the Governments authority.