Civil Liberties

The Congress ministries did much to ease curbs on civil liberties:

● Laws giving emergency powers were repealed.

● Ban on illegal organisations, such as the Hindustan Seva Dal and Youth Leagues, and on certain books and journals was lifted.

● Press restrictions were lifted.

● Newspapers were taken out of black lists.

● Confiscated arms and arms licences were restored.

● Police powers were curbed and the CID stopped shadowing politicians.

● Political prisoners and revolutionaries were released, and deportation and internment orders were revoked.

● In Bombay lands confiscated by the government during the Civil Disobedience Movement were restored.

● Pensions of officials associated with the Civil Disobedience Movement were restored.

But there were certain blemishes in the performance of the Congress ministries regarding civil liberties. Yusuf Maherally, a socialist, was arrested by the Madras government for inflammatory speeches and later released. S.S. Batliwala, a socialist, was arrested by the Madras government for seditious speech and given a six months’ sentence. Then,

K.M. Munshi, the Bombay home minister, used the CID against communists and leftists.