The Mauryan Polity c8.s4.t6.5

c8.s4.t6.5

Cross-examination was a feature of the legal procedure. So far as the criminal cases were concerned the suspected was not to be apprehended after the lapse of three days from the day on which the crime was committed. The suspected was arrested and kept in police custody (caraka) until the next day when he was tried. That the Judge should not decide a case on mere circumstantial evidence is the opinion of Kauṭalya, as he cites the case of Māṇḍavya where injustice was done, relying, as the judge did, on the strength of such circumstantial evidences.