Overview
A report published on Tuesday highlighted that India sentenced 165 people to death in 2022.
The report was drafted by National Law University Delhi’s (NLUD) Project 39A, a litigation and criminal justice research centre. It is the seventh edition of the research centre’s annual statistics report on instances of the death penalty in India.
The report looks at a wide variety of evidence, including news reports and lower court verdicts.
Highest Number of Death Penalties in Over Two Decades
The report lamented that despite courts recognising the need to change guiding frameworks on death penalties, the number of death penalties awarded in 2022 was the highest since 2000.
Concerningly, the report noted that trial courts “imposed death sentences in 2022 in 98.3% death penalty cases” without collecting mitigating evidence in favour of the convict or evidence on the possibility of reform.
The year 2022 also saw the highest number of death sentences awarded in a single case since 2016, with 38 people sentenced to death for the 2008 serial blasts in Ahmedabad.
165 people were sentenced to #death in 202 - the highest in over 2 decades.
— Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi (@P39A_nlud) January 31, 2023
Also, there were 539 people on #deathrow at the end of 2022 - the #highest since 2004
To know more about why this matters, see our “Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report 2022.” pic.twitter.com/3mPMGDo9op
Further, the NLUD report highlighted that cases involving sexual offences accounted for a majority of the death sentences, with 51.28% of the 165 being convicted for sexual crimes. Of the 38 death sentences imposed on sexual offenders, 28 committed the act against women under 12. Of which, 26 were incidents of homicidal rape.
Hundreds Still on Death Row
By the end of 2022, 539 prisoners were reported to be on death row, the highest since the research centre’s first report in 2016. From 2015 to 2016, there has been a 40% increase in convicts awaiting the execution of their death sentences.
The report said that out of the 68 cases concerning 101 prisoners whom trial courts handed death sentences, merely three had their death sentence confirmed by High Courts. Meanwhile, High Courts commuted 48 death sentences to life imprisonment and acquitted 43 of all charges.
Our colleagues Pratiksha & Sakshi write about the acquittal of 8 persons sentenced to #death by lower courts against whom the #SupremeCourt found no evidence.
— Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi (@P39A_nlud) January 17, 2023
Can our conscience permit a broken system to dispense 'justice' & execute people? https://t.co/mlBd89Zx2A
Of the 11 death penalty cases before the Supreme Court, the judges acquitted five of all charges and commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment for eight prisoners. Only two convicts’ death sentence was confirmed.
The report stressed that while the higher courts were reversing death sentences, most of the sentences were commuted to life imprisonment without remission, leaving behind the focus on reform and rehabilitation.
Rethinking Death Penalty Laws
The NLUD report highlights that the Indian Supreme Court acknowledged the need to look at the existing framework of awarding death sentences in India, aiming to bring about a change in a standard that has remained intact since 1980.
The court recognised the “lack of uniformity” in awarding death sentences.
To this end, the apex court is seeking to address the loopholes in the existing framework by setting up a Constitutional Bench and promoting “real effective, and meaningful” sentences for convicts.
For you to better understand @P39A_nlud's Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report 2022 releasing next week, catch the first in our 3-post #DoYouKnow series on the #deathpenalty.
— Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi (@P39A_nlud) January 24, 2023
Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/StR5jHTkom
Global Trend in Death Sentences
The NLUD report suggested that by the end of 2022, 113 countries had abolished the practice of death sentences. In 2022, Papua New Guinea, the Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea joined the list and ended the sentencing practice. Meanwhile, Zambia and Malaysia are also looking to put an end to capital punishment.
In other related developments, 125 UN General Assembly members voted to prohibit death sentences in December 2022. However, India voted against the resolution.
Iran: Authorities must drop death penalty and false charges facing tortured protesters | Amnesty International UK https://t.co/RRaaIu1Fns
— Ali Vaez (@AliVaez) January 27, 2023
Nevertheless, the situation is grim in the international sphere as well. In 2021, Amnesty International reported at least 579 executions of death sentences across 18 countries, which was 18% higher than the number in 2020. China topped the list with over 1,000 confirmed executions in 2021. Iran came second, with over 314 death sentences executed in 2021.
Iran has publicly hanged four protesters to death in just a month for crimes including “enmity against God.”
According to a recent report by Iran Human Rights, Iran executed over 500 people in 2022, the highest figure in five years.