Crime and Punishment in Ancient India

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This book deals with the crimes and punishments in ancient India. Apart from crimes and punishments, its evolutionary process has also been discussed. Criminal laws laid down by Gautama, Vasistha, Apastamba, etc. also find place in the book.

The influence of caste system on the criminal law, apprehension of criminals, the courts, offences against the state, king, public justice, offences relating to weights and measures, religion, morality and family life are also given in the book with various other crimes, heinous and minor ones.

The book has hardly left only crime and its punishment. The subject and its detailed presentation makes this book altogether different and very interesting to read.

With great diffidence I come out before the public with this-my first humble venture. I am fully aware of the many imperfections in this little book and the errors that have crept into it, inspite of my best endeavours. But I had to work under great difficulties, mainly for want of books of reference. I could have improved it to a great extent if I could have all the books I wanted to consult. Moreover, as I could not personally supervise the printing many mistakes have occurred in it.

The importance of the subject can not be gainsaid-in as much as the penal law of a country is the true index of its civilisation. I have tried to present in these few pages, in a systematised and scientific form, the salient features of the Hindu criminal law, and a comparative study of its excellences and imperfections in a non-partisan and historical spirit- with what success I leave it to my indulgent readers to judge. I wish it were taken up by abler hands who have greater facilities to do full justice to the vast subject. I should mention here that I have made numerous quotations from standard and authoritative works, which it has not been possible for me to acknowledge in every instance. I have made a reference to them in the Bibliography.

The study of the Hindu Criminal Law has mainly an academic interest. To the practising lawyer it is of little use, for it is no longer in force in any part of India, nor does it serve as a basis for the Indian Penal Code. So, naturally, while the civil law of the Hindus has received a careful attention from a host of jurists and lawyers, the criminal law has been systematically ignored. Yet the study of the Hindu criminal law is no less important to the student of ancient Indian civilization. It gives him an insight into the political, social, economic and religions conditions of the country in early times.

The Hindu criminal law has an evolutionary character. From the humblest beginnings it developed into a fairly advanced system of law, inspite of its many defects. It is difficult to ascertain, with any degree of precision, the approximate dates of the various law books; still it is possible to settle their chronology with some amount of certainty from internal evidence-i.e. from a study of the laws. They represent various stages of development of civilization. There can be little doubt that the criminal laws laid down by Gautama, Vasistha, Apastamba and Baudhayana represent an earlier stage than those of Manu. In them we find the germ of a criminal law which is as yet rudimentary. Sometimes it is difficult to distin guish between laws proper and rules of penance. But when we come to Manu, the criminal law has already reached a high stage of development. A clear distinction has been drawn between criminal law, or rather laws, and rules of penance. The number of offences dealt with is quite numerous and indicates a complex and advanced stage of society. The punishments, though often brutal, are never, theless reasonable and effective, and show a great anxiety to suppress crimes by an attempt to make them correspond to the gravity of offences. An attempt has been made to classify the subject matters of law suits (including crimes) and to define some grave and common offences. The object of punishment has been clearly grasped. Extenuating circumstances or other considerations have been carefully laid down. Modes of punishments have also been enumerated. The duty of the state to suppress crimes has been sufficiently emphasized and arrangements have been made for their suppression, and apprehension of criminals.

The laws of Visņu are less systematic and much more inadequate than those of Manu. Though this would lead one to presume that they were earlier, yet in reality they represent a later stage of development. In many cases he quotes the very recommendations of Manu, while in many other instances his recommendations are similar to those of the latter. But in others, they breathe a more modern spirit. An attempt has been made to humanise punishments. In many offences of comparatively light nature, capital punishment has been superseded by mutilation or fine. The number of capital offences has thus been considerably reduced.