Officers during British Raj

It was not surprising that they had recourse to violence to meet a growing and aggressive nationlist movement. That was inevitable, for empires rest on that and they had been taught no other way of meeting opposition. But the fact that excessive and unnecessary violence was used showed that they had lost all grip of the situation, and no longer possessed the self-control and restraint which they seemed to have in normal times.

Excerpts from Page 460 of the book 'An autobiography : Jawaharlal Nehru'