The Book of Akbar 32: Prisoners of War not to be made Slaves.

32

[Text, vol. ii. p. 202.] One of the gracious acts of His Majesty in this (seventh) year of his reign was the prohibition against making slaves of prisoners taken in war. It had been the custom of the royal troops, in their victorious campaigns in India, to forcibly sell or keep in slavery the wives, children, and dependents of the natives. But His Majesty, actuated by his religious, prudent, and kindly feelings, now issued an order that no soldier of the royal army should act in this manner ; for although evil-disposed men might follow senseless courses, and taking up arms against the Emperor might suffer defeat, the children and people belonging to them were to be secure from all molestation from the royal troops, and no one, small or great, was to be made a slave. All were to be free to go as they pleased to their own houses or to the houses of their relatives ; for although the repression and destruction of insolent opponents and the chastisement and coercion of rebels are among the duties of the ruling power, and are approved by lawyers and men of justice, still the punishment of their innocent wives and children is a transgression of the law. For if the husband pursues an evil course, what fault is it of the wife ? and if the father rebels, how can the children be blamed ?