544 capital punishment convicts in Indian jails as of Dec 31, 2022: MHA

Uttar Pradesh topped the list of highest number of death row convicts lodged in jails as of December 31, 2022, followed by Gujarat

New Delhi: The Centre told Parliament on Tuesday that 544 capital punishment convicts were lodged in various jails across the country as of December 31, 2022.

The data on capital punishment convicts were given by Union minister of state for home, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, in a written reply to a query by Deepak Dev Adhikari in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. (Sansad TV)

Union minister of state for home, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, in a written reply to a query by Deepak Dev Adhikari in the Lok Sabha, also said that the number of death row prisoners whose execution is still pending and the number of persons filing mercy petitions with the authorities concerned are not centrally maintained.

Citing the data from the Crime in India 2022 report of National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB), the reply suggested that with 95 convicts, Uttar Pradesh topped the list of highest number of death row convicts lodged in jails as of December 31, 2022, followed by Gujarat (49), Jharkhand and Maharashtra (45 each), Madhya Pradesh (39), Karnataka (32), Bihar (27), West Bengal (26), Haryana (21), Rajasthan and Uttarakhand (20 each), Kerala (19), Andhra Pradesh (15) and Tamil Nadu (14).

Among the Union Territories, Delhi has nine capital punishment convicts, while Jammu and Kashmir has eight convicts, Kumar said citing NCRB data.

Compared to 13 offences in Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has 15 offences punishable with death penalty. However, according to senior police officers, such an increase is due to the incorporation of offences of ‘organised crime’ and ‘terrorist act’ which are punishable with death sentence under the respective special laws.

Responding to a separate query, which asked for the reasons for delays in release of NCRB annual crime data for 2023, Kumar said data validation for 2023 is in final stages.

“NCRB releases three annual statistical reports namely ‘Crime in India’, ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’ and ‘Prison Statistics India’. The publications collate data of a calendar year, hence, the process of collection of data is initiated only after the completion of the respective year. The data for the reports is collected from 89 data supplying centres which includes 36 States/Union Territories and 53 Metropolitan Cities i.e. Cities with a population of more than 10 lakhs. Data validation for the 2023 reports is in final stage,” Kumar said.