Bookstawa – Modern History

Ilbert Bill 1884 (The White Mutiny 1883)

Background

One of the reason behind the formation of the Indian National Congress (INC) was the
Ilbert Bill of 1883. In 1883, Lord Ripon was the Viceroy. He was India's Viceroy from 1880 to 1884.
He was a liberal in his approaches in the administrative processes. Sir CP Ilbert was the Law
member of Executive council. This concept of the law member of executive council started from
the Charter Act of 1883. Sir CP Ilbert drafted the Ilbert Bill, hence the name. The bill faced harsh
criticism. It was even criticised by the Britishers, both living in India and in Britain.

Why was the Bill introduced?

The main aim of this Bill was to remove racial discrimination from the judiciary. It
proposed to allow Indian judges and Magistrates to convict Europeans in Criminal cases. Till then,
Indian judges were not allowed to convict Europeans in criminal cases, except in the cases of
Presidency Town- Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. Lord Ripon didn't want to have such
discrimination. That's why the Bill was introduced in 1883.

Why was the Bill diluted?

Due to heavy criticism, the bill was later withdrawn. Ilbert Bill after making various
amendments was then again introduced in a diluted form in 1884. It were the British women
living in India who criticised this bill the most, as it was rumored that during the 1857 revolt, the
Indian Sepoys raped the British women living in India.
That's why British women were not comfortable having Indian native judges in Rape
related cases. Also, they doubted that Indian Judges will be able to give impartial judgments. They
even went on questioning the character of the Indian judges who were mostly Bengali by claiming
that Bengali males did not respect their own women therefore not be given the right to judge cases
involving English women.
The other most vocal opponents of the Bill were the British Tea and Indigo plantations
owners in Bengal who used to harass the Indian plantation workers. People in Britain were also
opposing the bill as they felt it was humiliating for the Britishers. There was too much pressure on
Lord Ripon to change the bill. Indians were observing this from sidelines. Lord Ripon surrendered
before the racist forces and a diluted Ilbert Bill was introduced in 1884.

Ilbert Bill 1884 (The White Mutiny 1883) - Page 1

 Bookstawa – Modern History

Criminal Procedure Code Amendment Act 1884

The new bill was passed as Criminal Procedure Code Amendment Act 1884. According to
this, if an Indian judge was handling a European criminal case, a minimum 50% of judges in the
jury would have to be European. However, this rule was not applicable to the European judges in
cases involving Indians as accused. Indians especially the intellectuals noticed the racial
discrimination.
This led to the rise and spread of nationalism in the hearts of Indians. This is also known as
the growth of Indian Nationalism, resulting in the intellectuals and the educated people to come
together and forming the Indian National Congress.

Ilbert Bill 1884 (The White Mutiny 1883) - Page 2