Mughal Administration c10.s6.1

c10.s6.1

Qisās or retaliation: This was the personal right of the victim or his next of kin, in the case of certain crimes, notably murder. If he demanded the legal punishment, the qazi was bound to inflict it, and neither he nor the king could exercise the royal clemency by modification or abrogation of the sentence. If, on the other hand, the next of kin of the deceased was satisfied with the money damages, called ‘price of blood’ (Arabic diya) offered by the murderer, or pardoned him unconditionally, it was his look-out, and neither the qazi nor the king was to take any further notice of the crime. For minor offences, the retaliation was, as laid down by the Mosaic law, ‘‘a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye,’’ with certain exceptions. (Hughes, 481. Encyc. Isl. ii. 1038.)