Page 99 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

74 Karine Bates

The death was not regarded as a murder, but an accident (ibid.: 18).
Several cases indicate that poison was commonly used to kill husbands
(ibid.: 18–19). Women were sometimes involved in men’s suicides. This
happened to Saguni, whose lover committed suicide when he found
out that she had another lover. She was held responsible for it and was
sold for Rs 100 to recover the fine (ibid.: 26). 3
Shastric norms of punishment were not always followed, contrary
to the British perception of a systematic implementation of traditional
Hindu law. Pre-British India had more flexible ways to settle disputes.
The different sanctions dispensed by the kotwal’s office may be ex-
plained by the fact that the decisions over the sanctions were made
according to local practices in the city of Pune.

The rulers and the ruled were the same people, operating within the
parameters of the value system that was current, which both rulers
and ruled tried to understand and interpret.... The structure of the
fines imposed by the Kotwal to deter crimes was guided by consi-
derations of financial affordability and by factors such as poverty
and insolvency. (ibid.: 52)

Wagle (ibid.: 18) also says: ‘The amount of the fine depended on the
financial worthiness of a person and on the principle of the ability to
pay. It does not necessarily reflect on the nature of the offense.’
The value system of the local people was transmitted to the kotwal
by the batmidars who acted as paid informants drawn from amongst
the people. This explains why fines were adjusted according to the
economic status of the guilty person and why in some cases it led to
the suspension of the fines. The batmidar was also the person who
informed the kotwal about the judicial cases in a specific community
or village. This was how the kotwal was aware of what was going on
in the different areas under his jurisdiction.
The cases cited illustrate the variety of sanctions imposed by the
kotwal as well as the differences between the sanctions established
by the ancient shastric texts and the local norms of punishment. The
local decision of the kotwal and the jatis do not correspond with the
sanctions of the shastric texts. These texts were also subject to inter-
pretation by the Brahman shastris (scholars of the Dharmashastra)
of Pune. Their views varied strikingly. For instance, the most extreme
shastris would recommend castration or death for a man in the case