SC heard seven death penalty appeals in 2016, confirmed none

INDICATING APPLICATION of stringent tests before sending convicts to the gallows, the Supreme Court did not confirm the death penalty in any of the seven cases of criminal appeals that it decided in 2016. A year before, in 2015, the apex court had confirmed eight out of nine death penalty cases, including that of 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon.

According to a report compiled by the Centre on the Death Penalty, National Law University Delhi, not only did the court keep off awarding death penalty, it acquitted the accused in three out of the seven cases.

While 71 cases of death sentences were pending in the apex court at the end of 2016, a total of 397 prisoners were on death row with their appeals pending either in high courts or in the Supreme Court as on December 31, 2016.

Uttar Pradesh topped the list of states with the highest number of death row prisoners at 70. It was followed by Maharashtra with 47, West Bengal 39 and Madhya Pradesh with 37.

The report, made public on Tuesday, stated that 11 death row prisoners could not be classified state-wise since they were convicted under Central laws, such as the Arms Act.

Only one person was sentenced to death in a rape and murder case by the SC in 2016 when it confirmed the extreme punishment at the stage of review, stated the report.

In 2016, trial courts across the country handed down the death sentence to 136 people, high courts confirmed punishment only in 15 cases in toto while the Supreme Court upheld none. Trial courts in 2015 had sentenced 70 convicts to death.

More than 60 per cent of the cases in which courts awarded the death sentence were murder cases while 15 per cent were cases of murder and sexual assaults.

President Pranab Mukherjee alsotookacallonsevenmercypetitions moved by death row convictsin2016underarticle72ofthe Constitution.

He rejected the mercy petitions of six prisoners, and commuted the death sentence of one convict. In the order of commutation, the President stated that the convictwouldspendtherestofhis life in prison.

Previous reports by the law university had said at least 62 per cent of death row inmates were first-time offenders; around 60 per cent had not completed secondary education; and nearly 75 per cent belong to economically weaker sections.