Story in numbers: Not a long rope for death penalty adjudication

At the end of 2022, 539 convicts were on death row - the highest number of prisoners facing the gallows since 2016.

The number of death row inmates has increased steadily over the years, with Year 2022 seeing a 40 per cent jump since 2015.

Year 2022 represents a significant shift in death penalty adjudication, with the Supreme Court (SC) recognising the need to reconsider the capital sentencing framework for the first time since it was enacted in the Bachan Singh versus State of Punjab in 1980.

In a momentous order, the SC noted the gaps in the death penalty sentencing framework and sought to address these areas of concern through a Constitution Bench aimed at establishing the components of a real, meaningful, and effective capital sentencing hearing.

In another decision, the SC laid down the guidelines for the collection of mitigating material by trial courts.

However, in the same year that the SC cast grave doubts on the death penalty sentencing framework and its implementation by trial courts, it is of concern that 165 death sentences were executed by the sessions courts — the highest in a single year since 2000.

This shift has been sharply influenced by the extraordinary sentencing of 38 prisoners to death in Ahmedabad in a single bomb blast case, representing the largest number of convicts sentenced to death in a single case since 2016.

Notably, sexual violence continues to dominate the imposition of the death penalty in India, with cases involving sexual offences constituting a majority (51.28 per cent) of cases in which the death penalty was imposed by trial courts in 2022.

Source: Project 39A