Guwahati: In 2025, trial courts across India handed down 128 death sentences, according to official records. However, a report by the Square Circle Clinic at NALSAR, Hyderabad, has raised serious concerns about the legality and fairness of these verdicts, stating that 79 out of 83 cases (95.18%) failed to meet constitutional requirements.
These safeguards, which ensure the proper administration of the death penalty, were outlined by the Supreme Court in Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh and further reinforced as a fair trial requirement in Vasanta Sampat Dupare v. Union of India in August 2025.
The report highlights a striking trend: while trial courts continue to impose death sentences, higher courts rarely uphold them. Over the past decade, of 1,085 death sentences adjudicated by high courts (from 647 cases), only 106 sentences (9.77%) were confirmed. By contrast, 326 individuals (34.65%) were acquitted, meaning the acquittal rate is nearly four times the confirmation rate.
This pattern extends to the Supreme Court as well. In the last three years, the apex court has not confirmed a single death sentence, often overturning lower court decisions. In 2025, high courts converted death sentences into acquittals in over 25% of cases (22 out of 85), while the Supreme Court acquitted over 50% of accused persons (10 out of 19 cases). In total, 364 individuals were placed on death row despite evidence that did not warrant conviction.
Despite this, trial courts continue to impose capital punishment. In 2025 alone, 128 individuals (118 men and 10 women) were sentenced to death across 94 cases, bringing the total number of persons on death row to 574 as of December 31, 2025—the highest in a single calendar year since 2016.
The Square Circle Clinic’s report warns that such trends point to persistent and systemic flaws in India’s justice system. The combination of wrongful convictions and the routine imposition of the death penalty without proper safeguards means that innocent people and their families suffer not only long-term incarceration but also the psychological and legal trauma of death row.
“With the high rates of acquittals and commutations, it is clear that the death penalty is being applied excessively and unjustifiably,” the report notes. “Even limited to capital punishment cases, the data of the past decade shows that the justice system is facing a crisis of credibility and legitimacy.”