Most death sentences in Karnataka, UP

Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have sentenced most number of persons to death during 2004-12, the Law Commission has said in its report that recommended abolition of capital punishment.

The commission studied the rate of imposition of death sentences as a percentage of the rate of convictions for murder for 2004-12.It found there was “significant disparity by state” as it studied the figures put out by National Crime Records Bureau between 2004 and 2012.

For example, the report noted, a murder convict in Karnataka is about 3.2 times likely to get the death sentence compared to a murder convict in the rest of the country put together. The rate is six times in Delhi and 6.8 times in Jammu and Kashmir. However, a murder convict in Jharkhand is 2.4 times likely to get the death sentence compared to the rest of the country while it is 2.5 times for Gujarat and 3 for West Bengal.

“Uttar Pradesh sends the most number of persons to the death row, but as a proportion of the conviction rate for murder, it is about par with the national average. Karnataka was the second largest contributor to the death row in this period, and its death sentence rate was 3.2 times the national average,” it added. Another issue highlighted by the Law Commission was the economic status of the accused who is sentenced to death and their inability to hire quality lawyers to defend them in court.

The government will have to appoint lawyers for the defence but they are paid “absurdly low” in the range of Rs 500-Rs 1,500 per trial. “The competence of counsel will impact the entire trial and appellate process,” it added.