Crimes and Punishment in Mughal rule
Types of crimes
1. Offences against god (religion, Qazi tried such cases according to Shara/Canon law
2. Offences against State: Political- rebellion, riots: sultan or the judges of the state
3. Offences against Private individuals : Personal : matter between private individuals, compensation
by the guilty to the injured party
Punishments
1. Hadd 2. Tazir 3.Qizas 4. Tashir
1. Hadd: (Huqq Allah)
Punishment prescribed by the Canon Law
(Right of the God)
Stoning to Death( adultery)
Whipping – 100 stripe (Fornication)
80 stripe: falsely accusing a married women of crime of adultery, men guilty of drinking wine
Cutting both hands and feet (offences against state such as highway robbery)
Death for robbery with murder _jurisdiction of Qazi
2. Tazir
Aimed at reforming the culprit
Reprimanding publically
Imprisonment
Exiling
Dragging the culprit to the court, exposing him to public contempt
Boxing him on the ear/whipping
(Heavy punishment for lower classes and light for upper classes)
3. Qisas
Retaliation
Retaliation by the injured on the culprit in the case of murder or such crimes
Murder and assault (jurisdiction of the state)
Islamic Jurisprudence Private individuals allowed to claim compensation for the damage done to them
: A tooth for a tooth, “ An eye for an Eye”
Privilege of forgiving or pardoning the guilty
4. Tashir
Public degradation
Shaving the head of culprit
Blackening his face
Mounting him on an ass or on camel
Publically parading him through the streets
Disfiguring him
Islamic Jurisprudence is silent on this
Punishments
King was free to inflict any form of punishment (offences against the state)
Torture / capital punishment
Offenders: Trampled to death under the foot of the elephant
Bitten by deadly Cobras
Buried Alive
Hands cut off, Eyes were put out
Death: Default in the payment of Jizya
## Justice in Mughal Rule ##
Zindiq: heretic whose teaching dangerous to the state: liable to Kl punishment
Prescribed new punishments departing from Shariat
Fate of many persons accused were of various offences : whims and fancies of ruler, spur of moment
Mirat-i- Ahmadi
Emperors issued instructions for trying new types of cases and punishments
Mughal rulers
Mutilation Prescribed by shariat for theft
Aurangazeb: Thieves were hanged to death
Akbar: Arrowswere to be shot at a man for theft
Jehangir: leader of theif torninto pieces by 12 dogs
Adultery, sodomy: lapidation
Fornication: Whipping
Culprits were given capital punishment
Akbar neglected, a apostasy (neglect of religion) or heresy (provocative belief)
Forcible conversion, forcible Sati, declared illegal by Akbar,
Forbade the slaughter of animals on certain days: Akbar, Jehangir and shahjahan
Akbar: Marriages between cousins, child marriages, polygamy : Illegal by Akhbar
Aurangazeb: Celebration of Holi and Diwali
Keeping the shop closed on Amavasya and ekadasi, burning the dead on the banks of jamuna Offfences
punishable by law
No rules regarding period of imprisonment and life in prison: Will of the emperor
Prisons
Prisons were set at liberty : happy occasions
Celebration of birth of princes
Cure of prolonged disease of ruler
Royal visit to the prison etc
Mughal Judicial administration
Sources of law
1.Quranic Injunctions
2.Hadith(Saying of the prophet)
3. Fatwa's(decrees of eminent judges)
Qazis commonsense
Islamic Kingship
As per the Islamic theory of kingship the Quran and other Muslim Sacred texts are the foundation of
kingship
King is the Naib of Khalifa
Mughal kingship
exclusive power to interpret Shariat by Ulema
Akbars kingship is the mix of Hindu concept of divinity of King and European Concept of Divine right
of Manifestation of Divine power
Kingship: “Emblem of the power of
god and a light shedding ray from this sun of the absolute”
Blow to the King
Babar: Hereditary Monarchy- Padshah
Never considered subordinate to khalifa: State is the family property of the ruler
Dictator whose authority not subject to any control from khalifa or any overload
Humayun: Divine inspiration in ruling, Shadow of God
Akbar: Enlightened the theory of kingship, made the institution of Kingship divine in theory as well as
in practice : (rights, duties, powers and resp)“Universal toleration to all subjects “
Discouraged, Conversion of Captives to Islam
Abolished Jaziya and Pilgrim tax
Aurangzeb : Bigoted theory of kingship, religious consideration over political wisdom
“Mughal kingship is divine only in origin but in practice it was benevolent despotism”
Judicial administration
Sultan : Fountain of justice
Head of the judicial machinery, tried all imp cases of the nobles and officers
Qazi-ul-Quzat : Chief Qazi (Dept of Civil and Criminal law)
Heard appeals from lower courts
Dept of censorship of public morals- Muhtasibs
Provinces- Qazis, Villages: Panchayat
Judicial structure
Emperor held his court on a fixed day
Death punishment given only by him
Qazi-Ul-Quzat; Next to the emperors court
Sadar-us-Sadar : religious case
Provincial courts: Criminal cases by governor or Sipah-Salar
Civil Cases (land, Property): Diwan
Provincial Qazis court: Civil and criminal jurisdiction of both Hindus and Muslims
Mughal courts
Courts of Sarkar: Qazi and Kotwal decided important cases
Faudars: Decided criminial Cases
Parganas:
Shiqdar acted as Magistrate( criminal)
Civil cases: Amil
Villages: Panchayat/ Village council
Types of Law Courts
1. Courts of religious law (Qazi)
2. Courts of common law
(governors, local authorities, tribal heads, caste panchayats)
3. Courts of political cases (Emperor or his agents)
Functioned independently over one another
Courts of Religious law
Religious courts: administered Shara or sacred law
Only religious matters, family law, inheritance were tried in this courts
Qazis had no power to interpret the Islamic law but to accept the interpretations of the earlier
jurists( Muftis, Mujtahids, Wakils-i- Shara=Champions of Quranic Law )
Look after Waqfs(pious establishments, orphans property, etc)
Courts of Common Law
Customs or unwritten codes of laws were administered.
Caste elders and Brahmin Pandits were included in the courts
Governors, Kotwal,faujdars, also administered these laws with the help of Caste elders
Never came under the control of the Qazis
Courts of political Cases
Offences against the state and against law and order
Rebellion, disloyalty, theft, highway robbery and murders
Law applied: Urf- customary law
Qazi had nothing to do with these cases
Tried by the monarch and his agents
Qazis
Did not expound the laws
Passed a decree or verdict , based on the opinion of other scholars
Expounder of laws: Mufti, learned man
But Qazis is expected to be honest, impartial and virtuous
Provincial Qazis and Governors
Qazis tried cases in mosques or in their own houses
Crimes and punishments
1. Offences against God
2. Offences against State
3. Offences against private individuals
Judicial administration during Delhi sultanate
Sources of Law
Quran
Precedents (Case-laws, judge-made laws)
Opinion of the jurists
Sultan
Head of civil administration, supreme commander of the army
Head of judiciary
Used to confer titles and honors
Nobility, Ulema
The religious and intellectual group of Muslims
Managed religious matters and interpreted religious regulations for sultan
In charge of judicial matters and worked as Qazis at various levels
Associated with three dept of justice
1. Diwan-i-Qaza- relating to disputes between his subjects
2.Diwan-i-Mazalim- Relating to Bureaucracy
3. Diwan-i- Siyasat- Millitary matters
Provinces- Governor( Mukti/Amir)
Diwan
Provincial Qazi
Qazis
Diwan-i-Rasalat – department death with administration of justice
Chief Qazi is head of judicial system (chief Justice)
Qazi-i- Mumalik (highest religious officer took care of ecclesiastical affairs)
Apponted qazis and approved charitable grants
Muhtasibs(public censors) assisted in J. admin
(No infringement of the tenets of Islam, public moral and conduct)
Under him Qazi of provinces and towns
Kotwals- police officers- towns
Badrid-i- Mumalik was head of state news gathering and intelligence
Not added any new principles
Not reinterpreted
Civil law merged with Canon law
Jurists were theologians
Made necessary digest of laws for redymade references
Fatawa-i- Takar Khania- Tatar khan (Tughlak Period)
Fatawa-i- Alamgiri: Aurangazebs reign
Justice
Traditional islamic practice modified to suit the peculiar problems of India
Four types of courts
1. Diwan-i-mazalim- court of complaints (sultan/representative)
2. Qazis court –administered holy law of Islam
3. Court of Muhtasib- public morals and offences against religious ordinances
4. Shurta- police courts
Third court gained in power and prestige in India
Judicial dignitary
Amar-i-dad (Chief Magistrate)
Supreme judge /in the absense of sultan
Presided over court of complaint and justice
Controlled Muhtasib and the police
Large salary- try complaints against governors and high commanders
Responsible for public works, controlled the police
Ordered the arrest of the criminals, dealt with breaches of law, tried cases with assistance of Qazi
Chief Judge
Qazi –i- mumalik, chief judge was head of ecclesisatical department,- Sadr-i- Jahan
Not clear whether he heard appeals against judgment of the qazis
Public opinion was critical of the appointment of qazis for consideration other than merit
Kings took steps to uphold the prestige of the judiciary
Delhi sultanate: Not theocracy
Not possible to directly under the control of Khalifa
Large number of Non Muslims
Authority of Khalifa was declined
IQTA System
Army commanders and nobles were given territories to administer and collect the revenue
Territories assigned were called IQTA
Holders of IQTA- Iqtadars or muqti
Longrun Muqti – expected to maintain army , and help the sultan
Kwaja appointed to keep t a record of the income of the Iqtas
Village
Villages , smallest administrative unit
panchayat dispensed justice
Muquadam, Patwari
Administration of justice remained same of pre- Turkish period
