561 death row inmates in the country; Highest in two decades: report
According to data, there were 541 and 490 death row inmates at the end of 2022 and 2021, respectively, and 167 and 146 death sentences were handed down in 2022 and 2021.
New Delhi: As many as two death row inmates are currently being held in prisons across the country, the highest number at the end of a calendar year in two decades, according to a report. The number has increased exponentially since 2015, with an increase of 45.71 percent in such cases.
According to the eighth edition of the 'Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report', published by Project 39A at National Law University, Delhi, 120 death sentences were passed by courts in 2023, but the same period also witnessed the lowest death rate judgment confirmations by the courts of appeal since 2000.
“By the end of 2023, 120 death sentences had been imposed by courts in India and 561 prisoners were living under a death sentence.
“This makes 2023 the year with the highest number of prisoners sentenced to death in almost two decades, and the second highest number since the turn of the century according to the National Crime Record Bureau's Prison Statistics Reports. The year 2023 will also witness a 45.71% increase in the death row population since 2015,” the report said.
“These figures indicate a widening gap between the appeals courts' efforts to improve institutional capacity to administer the death penalty and the ongoing death penalty crisis in the courts,” it added .
The Supreme Court has not upheld any death sentences for a second calendar year after 2021, the report found.
“The Supreme Court has not upheld a single death sentence in 2023. In the High Courts, only one death sentence was upheld by the Karnataka High Court in a murder implicater case. “2023 marks the lowest number of confirmations of death sentences by the appellate courts since 2000,” the report said.
448 death row inmates await their judgment
According to the report, a total of 488 death row inmates are awaiting judgment from the high courts, while the President of India rejected one mercy plea in March 2023 in a case of kidnap, rape and murder of a minor in 2008.
It says the Supreme Court has acquitted four prisoners in three death penalty cases, referred two death penalty cases back to the trial court and the Supreme Court, and commuted the death sentences of three death row inmates in criminal appeals.
Two inmates in two death penalty cases were released after discovering they were children who were in conflict with the law at the time of the crimes.
Exponential increase in the number of prisoners sentenced to death
According to data, there were 541 and 490 inmates on death row at the end of 2022 and 2021, respectively, and 167 and 146 death sentences were handed down in 2022 and 2021.
According to the report, the death row population has increased over the years, and in 2023, most death sentences were handed down for crimes involving sex crimes.
“Nearly 53.30% of the 120 death sentences imposed by courts in 2023 were cases of homicidal rape. Courts imposed the death penalty in 86.96% of cases, in the absence of any information about the suspect.
“Despite the mandate of the Supreme Court in the case of Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh, the courts have not sought the report of the probation officers, the report on the psychiatric evaluation of the suspects or their conduct in prison,” the report said.
According to the report, most death sentences, 33, were handed down by courts in Uttar Pradesh last year, followed by 12 in Jharkhand and 11 in Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh and 10 in West Bengal.
There were no such examples in Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
“Death sentences were handed down on the same day or within one day of sentencing in at least 37.14% of capital punishment cases in the courts in 2023. 45.71% of death sentences were handed down within two to seven days of sentencing. Courts imposed the death penalty one week after sentencing in only 17.14% of all death penalty cases,” the report said.
Faulty police investigation
The report further states that the acquittals and pre-trial detentions by the Supreme Court and high courts in death penalty cases indicate “significant concerns about the quality of police investigations and the appreciation of evidence by lower courts in death penalty cases.”
High courts acquitted 36 prisoners of all charges and remanded three cases involving five prisoners due to significant errors in cross-examination of forensic evidence and the perfunctory nature of sentencing.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill increases the number of death penalty crimes
It also said the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, which will replace the existing Indian Penal Code, has increased the number of crimes punishable by death from 12 to 18 crimes.
In addition, the new law codifies the procedures for submitting requests for mercy by death row inmates, and limits the scope of penalties that can be imposed when commuting a death sentence to life imprisonment.
(With PTI inputs)