The vernacular press act was passed in 1878, modeled on the Irish Press Laws, to curtail the freedom of the Indian-language press. Proposed by Lord Lytton, then viceroy of India, the act was intended to prevent the vernacular press from expressing criticism of British policies—notably, the opposition that had grown with the outset of the second Anglo-Afghan war (1878–80). The act excluded English-language publications. It elicited strong and sustained protests from a wide spectrum of the Indian populace.

The act provided the colonial government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press. From now on the government kept regular track of the vernacular newspaper published in different provinces. When a report was judge as seditious, the newspaper was warned. If the newspaper ignored the warning, the government had right to seize the press and confiscate the printing machinery.