28% drop in death sentences by trial courts in 2023: Project 39A report on Death Penalty in India

The number of death sentences imposed by trial courts across India in 2023 dropped by 28% as compared to the previous year, a statistical report on the death penalty by National Law University Delhi's Project 39A reveals..The report underscores the details of how death penalty is administered in India, besides highlighting important legal developments on the issue..Among other findings, the report states that with 561 prisoners, 2023 saw the highest population on death row in nearly two decades. A total of 488 prisoners from the total death row population are awaiting judgment from the High Courts.The year 2023 marked the lowest rate of death sentence confirmations by the appellate courts since 2000..Trial courts.In 2022, sessions courts in the country had awarded 167 death sentences, whereas the numbers dropped to 120 capital punishments in 2023, indicating a 28% drop at the trial court level.With 33 death sentences, trial courts in Uttar Pradesh imposed the highest number of capital punishments in the country in 2023.Jharkhand’s sessions courts handed out 12 such sentences and the trial courts in Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh ordered 10 capital punishments each. Courts in Delhi sentenced three persons to the gallows in 2023. Trial courts in Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand did not award a single death penalty..Of the 120 death sentences in 2023, 64 cases related to murders involving sexual offences..While commuting capital punishments in Manoj & Ors v. State of Madhya Pradesh, the Supreme Court had laid emphasis on the consideration of mitigating circumstances at the trial stage. It had accordingly issued guidelines and asked for uniform implementation in such matters.The trial courts were directed to proactively elicit materials on mitigating circumstances before handing out sentences, besides being instructed to collect such information.“The jail authorities must also include a fresh psychiatric and psychological report which will further evidence the reformative progress, and reveal post-conviction mental illness, if any,” the apex court had said.Despite these directions, the report reveals that 84 death sentences in 60 cases were passed without seeking any evidence on mitigating circumstances in the form of a jail conduct report..High Courts.Significantly, there was only one confirmation of a death sentence by a High Court in 2023, whereas 36 death penalties were commuted to life sentences. Additionally, High Courts acquitted 36 persons who were facing capital punishment.The report also indicates a 23% drop in the number of prisoners whose cases were disposed of in 2023, compared to the previous year. While 101 prisoners saw their cases being disposed of in 2022, the number stood at 78 in 2023..Supreme Court.The Supreme Court of India did not confirm a single death penalty in 2023. On the other hand, it acquitted 6 prisoners in 5 appeals; remanded 2 death penalty cases to the trial court and the High Court; and commuted the death sentences of 3 death row prisoners to life in prison.In addition, the Supreme Court released two prisoners in two death penalty cases upon finding that they were children in conflict with the law at the time of the offences. .One such case was of murder convict Narayan Chetanram Chaudhary, whom the Supreme Court declared a juvenile at the time of committing the crime he was jailed for. .Freedom to me is what the most precious material to the world is: Death row prisoner on release after 28 years in jail.Hanging as a method of executionIn Rishi Malhotra v. Union of India, the Supreme Court considered the challenge to the constitutionality of hanging as a method of execution. The Court issued orders in this petition, directing the Union to set up a committee of experts in the domain of medical sciences and the law to examine alternative methods of execution which could cause death in a quicker, less painful manner. Previously, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutionality of hanging in Deena v. Union of India in 1983..New criminal lawsThe Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita retains the offences punishable with death under the Indian Penal Code and expands the number of offences punishable with death from 12 (under the IPC) to 18.For example, the offence of mob lynching was made punishable by death penalty under same provision as murder — Section 101.Notably, unlike murder, which can be punished with life or death sentence, the newly created offence of mob lynching is punishable with 7 years imprisonment or life imprisonment or the death penalty..Parliamentary Committee’s recommendation on retention of death penaltyIn the light of the expansion of the scope of the death penalty under BNS, domain experts raised the pitch to abolish death penalty before the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs.In its 246th report on BNS, 2023, the committee said, “The Committee after considering the submissions regarding the death penalty has understood that the reason for a passionate argument against death penalty is that the judicial system can be fallible and to prevent an innocent person from being wrongly sentenced to death. In this regard, the Committee recommends that the matter may be left for the Government to consider.”.[Read Project39A Report]