Report: 165 death penalties by trial courts in 2022, most since 2000

“With 165 death sentences at the end of 2022, this is the highest number of death sentences imposed in a year in over two decades (since 2000). This shift has been sharply influenced by the extraordinary sentencing of 38 persons to death in Ahmedabad in a single bomb blast case, representing the largest number of persons sentenced to death in a single case since 2016,” says the report.

According to NCRB data, 165 death penalties were awarded by trial courts in 2000. The corresponding figure for the last five years was 146 in 2021, 78 in 2020, 104 in 2019, 163 in 2018, and 110 in 2017.

In September last year, a three-judge bench headed by then Chief Justice of India U U Lalit, in a suo motu case, had referred the issue of reconsidering death penalty sentencing to a five-judge bench. The court had said that a “uniform approach” is needed on “granting real and meaningful opportunity” to convicts on death row.

In May last year, another three-judge bench led by Justice Lalit had mandated trial courts to collect psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the convict before holding that there is no possibility of reform and awarding death sentence.

Significantly, the report notes that 98.3% of the death penalty cases were decided by trial courts “without any materials on mitigating circumstances of the accused and without any state-led evidence on the question of reform.”

According to the report, at the end of 2022, there were 539 prisoners on death row, a 40% increase since 2015. The report attributes this to an increase in the number of death sentences imposed by trial courts and fewer cases being heard in appeal by higher courts.

“In the year 2022, High Courts across India decided 68 matters, while the Supreme Court decided 11 matters,” says the report.

Despite the high number of death sentences in trial courts, very few death sentences are upheld by higher courts. In the 68 cases decided by the high courts, only four death sentences were confirmed, while 40 accused in 19 cases were acquitted, 51 accused in 39 cases were handed lesser sentences, and six cases were referred back to trial courts.

“Worryingly”, even when death sentences are commuted, they have increasingly resulted in the imposition of life imprisonment without remission, says the report.

“While the Supreme Court imposed life imprisonment without remission for all eight prisoners whose death sentences were commuted, high courts imposed the same for over 56.6% prisoners. Placing convict sentences beyond the scope of executive remission raises concerns with the focus of the prison system on reformation and rehabilitation,” it says.

The report also notes that cases of sexual violence continue to dominate the imposition of death penalty, with such cases constituting over half of the total death sentences imposed by trial courts in 2022.