Administrative System of the Marathas c19.s8: 17. Serious Crimes Very Rare
Administrative System of the Marathas c19.s8
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17. Serious Crimes Very Rare
c19.s8.1
In the administration of criminal laws also the authorities were the same as in civil cases;—the Patil in the village, the Kamavisdar or Mamlatdar in the District, the Sarsubhedar in the province and the Peshwa and the Chief Justice at Poona above all.
c19.s8.2
If we judge by the effect, the administration of criminal justice in Maharashtra was as efficient as that of civil justice under the Peshwas. Although he does not miss any opportunity of denouncing the system as a whole, Elphinstone himself admits, "The country was peculiarly free from crimes. Gang robberies have never, since I have been in the country, reached to such a pitch, as to bear a moment's comparison with Bengal, described in the paper laid before the Parliament."