Law and Justice during Mughal Period

Law and Justice during Mughal Period

Law and Justice during Mughal Period

As the Muslim state was theocratic, the sultans of Delhi established Islamic institutions and laws in India. They did not treat Hindus as first-rate citizen and forced them to pay Jaziya like Zammies or protected people. The Quran (the religious scripture), the Hadis (the traditions) and Ijma (consensus of opinion) were the basis of their law and justice. It proved useful to Muslims only. Hindus were treated improperly. Although Hindus lived in a Muslim state yet they followed their own personal law but in case of any dispute between the Hindus and the Muslims, the latter were granted favour. Hence Justice during the Delhi Sultanate was not dispensed equally to all people. But when the Mughals ascended the throne, they tried to dispense justice to all equally. Akbar was the first Mughal emperor who tried to establish a secular state in India. He established political supremacy over the Ulemas.

The emperor was the highest authority in law and justice. Nobody could challenge his authority but he alone could not administer justice smoothly, so some officers were appointed to look after this work.t he power and position of chief Qazi was next to the emperor and he used to dispense justice in the capital. Qazis worked in various provinces, cities and also in parganas. Cases pertaining to properly and religion were decided by the provincial Qazis, Muftis; the interpreters of Islamic law, often helped them in their work of justice. Diwan, Amalguzar, Amil etc. dealt with revenue disputes but Subedars, Faujdars and Kotwals looked after criminal cases and settled them. Some Hindu Pandits and Purohits were also employed by Akbar so that the cases of Hindus be settled according to their own laws. The village Panchayats was authorized to settle disputes pertaining to their own village. But in matter of criminal cases Islamic law was imposed on all subjects without distinction of caste and creed. Dr. Ishwari Prasad mentions, “There were no professional lawyers, trained in law and conversant with social usage and regulations of the state and since the parties had to plead their case I person, we may presume that justice was not always done to the simple villager who was helpless against a rapacious official or an influential opponent.”

All the Mughal emperors except Akbar settled their disputes according to Islamic law. Akbar was the first Mughal who also paid attention towards Hindu law and tradition before arriving at a final decision, but after his death the system of secular justice came to an end and the later Mughals began to work according to their own choice.

Kinds of Crime :- According to the Quran the crimes were divided into three categories : (i) Crimes against God, (ii) State crimes, (iii) Personal Crimes.

The crimes against God were unpardonable before law and the culprit was sure to be punished for such crimes but in case of the remaining two crimes mercy could be shown.

According to the Quran four types of punishment were prevalent : (i) Hadd, (ii) Nazir, (iii) Kisas, and (iv) Tahshir. Hadd was awarded for crimes against god which were unpardonable. The punishment which was given to the criminal for mending his ways was called Nazir. For such crimes sometimes the criminal was required to pay fine. He was dragged on the threshold of the court of justice, condemned by the people and also imprisoned, exiled, and thrashed by whip. Murder and severe injury came into the category of Kisas. Sometime in case of compromise the culprits saved their lives by paying heavy fines. But no compromise was arrived at in some cases. The Qazi seeing the gravity of the case was authorized to award capital punishment to the culprit. The theory of ‘tooth for tooth’ and ‘eye for eye’ was also in vague during the Mughal period.

The Mughal penal code was quite severe. Mutilation of limbs and physical torture was awarded by the qazis with the consent of the emperor only. As there was no specific punishment for treason, misappropriation of imperial wealth and non-payment of revenue, so the emperor was at liberty to use his own discretion in such crimes. Generally the criminals were imprisoned for trivial offences.

Almost all the emperors of Mughal period paid attention to the maintenance of law and imparted equal justice to all. Emperor Jahangir was popularly known for his golden chain. Shahjahan and Aurangzeb also heard the appeals of the exploited on Wednesdays. Akbar paid special attention to the appointment of impartial judges. Akbar even permitted his people to file a suit against him. Aurangzeb introduced a lot of reforms in the field of law and justice and got a judicial book Fatwa-i-Jahandari prepared so that the judges could perform their duty properly well.

However the Mughal administration of Justice was not free from shortcomings. Its following demerits throw light upon its improper implementation.

1. The non-Muslims had to face several problems in the sphere of Justice as the religious laws and civil laws were not separate.

2. The Qazis of the contemporary period were not persons of character. They did not accept the ideals of justice. Almost all of them were greedy and accepted gifts and bribes unhesitatingly. Some of them were even not well-versed in laws and traditions, so they used to do whatever they liked. Some of them worked only two or three days in a week and had the courts at their residences. All this adversely affected justice.

3. There was acute shortage of judicial books in the country and the judicial authorities could not be well acquainted with the rules.

4. Mutual relations among the different courts were not smooth and their working and scope was not well arranged.

5. There was no proper system of evidence. It often led to arbitrary decisions.

6.Punishments were very stern.

7. The Ulemas had majority in the department of justice and their narrow outlook often affected the judgments.

8. There was no proper arrangement for detecting crimes.

9. Police and spies also had various defects. They often delivered wrong information to imperial court and sometimes became party with antisocial elements.

10. The employees of judicial department were paid scanty salaries, hence they resorted to bribe and corruption.

11. The condition of prison s was unsatisfactory and the culprits had to suffer a lot during imprisonment.

Akbar and Aurangzeb tried their best to overcome these difficulties but they could not succeed in their mission. However, it has been regarded as fairly successful, the credit of which goes to Akbar, the most renowned ruler of the Mughal period. It provided peace, prosperity and security to the subjects and the later rulers imitated it to a great extent.

Milan Tomic

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