Anglo-Indian critics attacked colonial excess, not the principle of legal inequality.

Evidence

Critics of the government in the Anglo-Indian press generally maintained a pragmatic view of the rights of Indians under the colonial regime, emphasizing that the government had used excessive measures in the Khan brothers’ case, rather than defending Indians’ right to legal equality outright. … The increasing criticism of the government during the course of the trial suggests that, at times, segments of the Indian and Anglo-Indian publics found 74 ‘The Great Wahabee Case’, Overland Weekly Edition, Times of India, 13 September 1870, p. — Julia Stephens, The Phantom Wahhabi, 151

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The distinction between objecting to excessive force and objecting to the underlying structure is a durable pattern worth sitting with — it recurs across colonial, carceral, and contemporary debates.