The Mauryan Polity c8.s4.t4.17

c8.s4.t4.17

That there was judicial trial for criminal suspects and that judgment was passed on the strength of the evidence is obvious from the Fourth Pillar Edict of Aśoka. Though one of the punishments involved death-penalty, still a grace (*yote*) of three days was granted to those on whom the sentence of death had been passed.³