Death Penalty India Report

FOCUS

Published on May 6, 2016, the Death Penalty India Report documents the socio-economic backgrounds of India's death row inmates and examines the manner in which their sentences were imposed. The study was conducted by Project 39A, a criminal justice research and litigation centre under National Law University, Delhi. 

The report consists of two parts: the first part provides quantitative data on death row inmates, their crimes, and legal cases; the second part documents interviews with the prisoners on their arrest, trial, imprisonment and impact on families. 

The report notes that 385 prisoners were under the sentence of death during the project – of which 361 were men and 12 women. In India, the death penalty is awarded under 59 sections of 18 central legislations – of which, 12 alone were under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Capital punishment can be meted out for 13 homicide offences (resulting in loss of life) and 41 non-homicide offences. Of 373 death row prisoners studied, 361 were sentenced for homicide, while 12 received death sentences for other crimes: eight for ‘waging war’, three for repeat rape convictions, and one for repeated drug trafficking. 

This 50-page document is divided into two parts: PART I contains Introduction (Section 1); Coverage of the Project (Section 2); Durations on Death Row (Section 3); Nature of Crimes (Section 4); Socio-Economic Profile (Section 5); Legal Assistance (Section 6). PART II contains Experience in Custody (Section 1); Trial and Appeals (Section 2); Living on Death Row (Section 3); Seeking Mercy (Section 4); Impact (Section 5); Death sentences in India (2000–2015): An Overview (Section 6); Conclusion (Section 7).

    FACTOIDS

  1. The report notes that any discussions on the death penalty must also take into account the time spent by prisoners on the death row. Of the 373 prisoners interviewed, the trials of 127 prisoners lasted for more than 5 years and the trials of 54 lasted for more than a decade.

  2. Judicial guidelines discourage death sentences for young and elderly offenders. However, 54 prisoners were between the ages of 18-21 years and seven were over 60 when they were convicted of their crimes.

  3. Of the 276 death row prisoners with available records of prior criminal activity, 241 (87.3 per cent) had no criminal record, revealing that most people sentenced to death in India are first-time offenders.

  4. The report notes that 274 prisoners (74.1 per cent) were economically vulnerable, and nearly two-thirds of these vulnerable prisoners, accounting for 63.2 per cent, were their families' primary or sole breadwinners.

  5. Over 60 per cent of death row prisoners had resorted to private legal representation, disproving the belief that most rely on legal aid. The economically vulnerable families had to sell their assets or borrow money to afford private legal aid. 

  6. The report notes that 76 per cent of the prisoners sentenced to death in India, amounting to 279 prisoners, belong to backward classes and religious minorities.


    Focus and Factoids by Aseema. 

AUTHOR

Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi

COPYRIGHT

Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi

PUBLICATION DATE

2016

TAGS

#prisons #death-penalty

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