INDIA: 564 PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW, HIGHEST SINCE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

April 1, 2025:

According to the latest data published by Project 39A in its Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report, in 2024 sessions courts imposed 139 death sentences, higher than the yearly average since 2016. Despite the Supreme Court asking lower courts to be aware of mitigating and aggravating factors for death sentencing, trial courts sought or relied on no information about the accused, such as psychiatric evaluations, reports on conduct in jail and life circumstances in at least 90.5% of all death sentences in 2024, said the report.
As the Supreme Court did not confirm any death penalty for a second continuous year– commuting sentences of seven prisoners and acquitting one–there were 564 people living under a sentence of death in India at the end of 2024, the highest since the turn of the century.
On average, trial courts imposed 32 more death sentences each year between 2016 and 2024, compared to the 15 years since the beginning of this millennium. Sessions Courts imposed 1,180 sentences in the nine years till 2024 compared to 1,486 between 2000 and 2015.
In 2024, nearly one in four (130) death row prisoners were in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India that also has the highest number of prisoners. Gujarat (71), Maharashtra (42) and West Bengal (37) followed UP.
UP’s sessions courts imposed 34 death sentences in 2024, the most in the country and higher than the state’s average since 2016. Between 2021 and 2024, at least 33 convicts have been sentenced to death each year by UP’s session courts.
Kerala followed with 20 death sentences in 2024 where 14 people were sentenced to death in a single case involving the murder of a political party rival, showed the report. This was half the reported death sentences imposed by trial courts in Kerala in the nine year period.