Annual Death Penalty Report 2022: Courts award 165 death penalties, highest in two decades

By: Yash Gupte

Sexual offences continue to make up the majority of instances where the death sentence was applied in 2022, despite the fact that the number was inflated by the "unprecedented" execution of 38 persons in the Ahmedabad bomb blast case.

The year 2022 recorded165 death sentences awarded by trial courts in India, the highest in two decades, according to the Annual Death Penalty Report published by Project 39A, an advocacy group with the National Law University, New Delhi. The Indian Constitution's Article 39A, which states that the state shall "promote the intertwined ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity by eradicating economic and social barriers," served as the inspiration for the project.

Sexual offences continue to make up the majority of instances where the death sentence was applied in 2022, despite the fact that the number was inflated by the "unprecedented" execution of 38 persons in the Ahmedabad bomb blast case. The Supreme Court has moved to reexamine the death sentence sentencing framework for the first time since 1980, the report stated, and marking 2022 as a "historic moment" in death penalty jurisprudence. This decision was made during the tenure of then-Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit. The report says that, “Through a suo-moto writ, the Supreme Court specifically highlighted the lack of uniformity in the death penalty sentencing framework and referred issues in death penalty sentencing to a Constitution Bench towards ensuring ‘real, effective and meaningful’ sentencing hearing for a convict.”

At the end of 2022, 539 prisoners were on death row, the highest number of prisoners on death row since the first Annual Statistics Report published in 2016. The population on death row has steadily increased over the years, with 2022 representing a 40 percent increase in the population since 2015. The chart below shows the number of prisoners on death row since 2016.

Source: Annual Death Penalty Report

About 539 inmates were on death row at the end of 2022, the most since the first Annual Statistics Report was released in 2016. Over the years, the number of people on death row has continuously risen; since 2015, the population has climbed by 40 percent as of 2022. In addition to the high number of death sentences handed down by trial courts, another factor contributing to the rise is "the associated low rate of disposal of death penalty cases by appeal courts. Uttar Pradesh accounts for the highest population of the death row inmates (100) followed by Gujarat (61) and Jharkhand (46).

According to Anup Surendranath, an NLU law professor and the executive director of Project 39A, the rise in the use of death penalty has occurred post-pandemic. “Trial courts have resumed imposing a high number of death sentences since the dip in 2020 due to the pandemic (which was the lowest at 77).”

The report mentions that, “In light of the Supreme Court’s directions in Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh, it is worth mentioning that trial courts imposed death sentences in 2022 in 98.3 percent death penalty cases without having any materials on mitigating circumstances of the accused and without any State led evidence on the question of reform.

Currently, 113 nations worldwide have abolished the death penalty, including Papua New Guinea and the Central African Republic amongst others. At the UN General Assembly on December 15, 2022, 125 nations voted in favor of a moratorium on the death sentence, while Ind