71 the decision he wanted. The High Court convicted Turan Shah of sodomy and sentenced him to death by burning at the stake. In spite of the fact that the court decision also advised that no execution might be carried out before the king of Portugal was informed, the Archbishop of Goa decided that the judgement might be acted upon. He wrote to the king of Portugal a letter dated 29December 1607 regarding the charge and sentence of the High Court and included justifications for the execution of the sentence. He wrote: “… this was in spite of the presence of instructions in the records of the High Court to the effect that execution sentences be carried out against anyone regardless of their rank or power, and for fear that disturbances may occur at the expense of serving God and Your Majesty, as well as the concern that worry may be caused to the people, we have instructed that the sentence by acted upon as is.” * This was a very hard blow for Bibi Fatima
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