Death Penalty Distribution in India

• The Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, introduced the death penalty for rape in West Bengal.
• The bill was passed unanimously by the Bengal Assembly but has been referred to the President of India for consideration.
• In 2022, 31,516 rapes were recorded in India, with Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh leading the list.
• Global data from Amnesty International shows that nearly three-quarters of countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. However, 55 countries still retain the death penalty.
• In 2023, India had 120 recorded death sentences, with no recorded executions, and 561 people under the death sentence.
• Death row prisoners often have severe physical, psychological, and mental health problems and lack state compensation.
• Some of these prisoners commit suicide, indicating inhuman prison conditions and potential biases.
• The use of ‘decolonisation language’ has increased the number of offences punishable by death from 12 to 18.
• Sexual violence against women and children (VAWC) often leads to public anger, grief, and shock, with calls for ‘justice’ often ignoring the victim’s autonomy and what they want.
• There is a normalization and politico-legal tolerance of everyday VAWC by men, including their public flogging, sexual violence, and killing.
The Justice Verma Committee’s Recommendations on the Death Penalty
• The death penalty does not necessarily deter crimes like sexual offences, including gang rapes.
• The Union Cabinet did not consider these recommendations, suggesting the need for abolitionist feminism to dismantle the carceral politics of sexual violence.
• Human rights-based language should be introduced to the masses, who are shaped by cultural and religious narratives.
• An abolitionist feminist movement should refuse death sentences and life imprisonment without parole as responses to sexual violence.
• The movement should work on structural issues such as redistribution of land and wealth for marginalized communities, their representation in all spaces and institutions, and a shift towards properly funded public education and healthcare.
• Governments and society should provide targeted support and state facilities for rape survivors to access education, employment, health, marital and family life.
• Victim-centered procedural and institutional reforms and a policy initiative to eliminate the patriarchal notion of honoring the family, community, and nation residing in female bodies and virginity are necessary.
• Evidence-based informed policymaking by central and State legislatures should be inculcated to avoid populist reactions leading to criminal injustice.
• The socio-religious background of judges should be investigated to understand their role in awarding the death sentence.
• Legal reform is needed to create a safer environment for women and children, and to critically understand how laws construct the socio-economic status of women and children.
• Public and judicial awareness campaigns should debunk the myth of the death sentence leading to a reduction in VAWC and bring gender equity from the private sphere to the public sphere.