West Bengal courts pronounced 6 death penalties in last 6 months for crimes against girls: Report

Updated on: Feb 21, 2025 01:12 pm IST

West Bengal courts have sentenced six individuals to death for sexually assaulting minors in the last six months.

Six convicted of sexually assaulting minors have been given the death penalty by West Bengal courts in the past six months, despite the fact that the state's last legal execution for the rape and murder of a juvenile in Kolkata occurred more than 20 years ago. For killing his family members, another prisoner was also given the execution penalty, bringing the state's total number of death sentences throughout the past six months to seven, reported news agency PTI.

The brutal nature of the rapes and murders committed against girls qualified them under the "rarest of the rare" category, where offenders were prosecuted under the POCSO Act in addition to sections of the IPC and, later, the BNS. In six of the seven instances, death by hanging penalties were imposed, reported Deccan Herald. The list does not include the sentence for Sanjay Roy, the convicted rapist and murderer of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who was given life term till death by a Kolkata court instead of the death penalty. It also excludes the alleged rape and murder of a 14-year-old Class 8 student, whose battered and bruised body was discovered on February 7 of this year in New Town, close to Kolkata, and in which a 22-year-old e-rickshaw driver was taken into custody by police.

On the eve of Independence Day in 2004, Dhananjay Chatterjee, a security guard at a south Kolkata residential building, was hanged at Alipore Jail for raping and killing a 16-year-old schoolgirl in her flat in March 1990. This was the last judicial hanging in West Bengal. Between September of last year and February, the death sentences related to the heinous crimes came in.

List of death sentences

• On September 7 last year, a POCSO court in Siliguri, northern West Bengal, condemned Md. Abbas to death after finding him guilty of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl in the Matigara region in August 2023 as she was on her way to school.
• Ashok Shaw, a cooking gas delivery person, was given a death sentence on September 26, 2024, by a special POCSO judge of the Alipore District and Sessions Court in Kolkata for a horrifying crime that occurred in the Tiljala neighbourhood of East Kolkata. On March 26, 2023, the offender used chocolates to lure his neighbour's little girl to his flat, where he sexually assaulted her before using a hammer to bash her head. According to the investigating officer, the girl's mangled body was discovered in his kitchen inside a sack, with 28 wounds on her body. When a rioting crowd set police cars on fire, the act sparked violent riots in the area.
• Mustakin Sardar, 19, was sentenced to death by another POCSO court in Baruipur on December 6 last year for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old Class 4 student who was discovered raped and suffered 42 injuries. The crime was perpetrated on October 5 of that year in the Kultali neighbourhood of Joynagar in the South 24 Parganas district, and the judgment was delivered 62 days later. Taking to her X handle, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote, “Conviction and capital punishment in such a case in just over two months is unprecedented in the history of the state... The govt has zero tolerance towards offences against women and will continue to ensure that justice is neither delayed nor denied.”
• Less than a week later, on December 14, Dinabandhu Haldar, 35, was given the death penalty by a court in Jangipur, Murshidabad district, for the rape and killing of a young girl in Farakka during Durga Puja in October. Subhajit Haldar, 23, the convict's accomplice, was also given a life sentence by the court.
• Ten days later, a trial court in Chinsurah, Hooghly district, sentenced 42-year-old Pramathes Ghoshal to death for killing his mother, father, and sister on November 8, 2021, in the Dhaniakhali neighbourhood of the district.
• A POCSO court in Hooghly sentenced 42-year-old Ashok Singh, a daily wage worker, to death on January 17 of this year for luring a five-year-old girl with a packet of chips before raping and killing her on November 24 in the Gurap region of the district. The offender took advantage of the victim, his neighbour, who innocently trusted him, in what the court dubbed the "rarest of the rare" case.
• Following a 26-day investigation by the city police, Rajib Ghosh, a roadside eatery employee, was sentenced to death by a special POCSO court in Kolkata on Tuesday for the rape and attempted murder of a seven-month-old child in the Burtolla area of north Kolkata within 75 days of his arrest. This is the latest in a string of blood-curling crimes. Since being tortured on November 30 of last year, the pavement-dwelling newborn has been fighting for her life in the intensive care unit at RG Kar Hospital.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/west-bengal-courts-impose-6-death-penalties-in-the-last-6-months-in-child-sexual-assault-cases-101740114191695.html#google_vignette

'Rarest of rare case': Kolkata court sentences man to death for raping 7-month-old baby

Story by India Blooms News Service

Kolkata/IBNS, Feb. 19, 2025 

A POCSO court in Kolkata has sentenced a 34-year-old man to death for raping a seven-month-old girl child, media reports said. Rajib Ghosh, who was the sole accused, has also been ordered to pay Rs. 10 lakh as compensation for the child's family. The case dates back to November 2024.

Rajib Ghosh Source: TOI

The child, who was a footpath-dweller in North Kolkata, was admitted to the hospital in critical condition after she was victimised. She has undergone several surgeries and is still battling for her life. As per reports, the convict picked up the baby from footpath where she was sleeping with her parents, raped and tortured her for 30 minutes and dumped her in front of a temple in naked state.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/rarest-of-rare-case-kolkata-court-sentences-man-to-death-for-raping-7-month-old-baby/ar-AA1zlzva?apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1

Supreme Court sets aside death penalty to man convicted of killing wife, daughter

By Utkarsh Anand

Published on: Feb 18, 2025 06:14 am IST

The bench said that capital punishment, being the most severe penalty in the judicial system, must only be imposed when there is absolute certainty about guilt, which was absent in the present case.

India’s criminal justice system disproportionately disadvantages the accused, especially those who are economically or socially vulnerable, the Supreme Court has lamented while setting aside the death penalty awarded to a man convicted of murdering his wife and 12-year-old daughter. Citing serious lapses in the conduct of his trial, a three-judge bench comprising justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta held that the accused was denied a fair trial due to procedural deficiencies, including the absence of legal representation at crucial stages of the proceedings. “The Indian criminal justice system places the accused person at a comparative disadvantage which is more so exacerbated when the person is economically or socially less fortunate as in the present case,” noted the bench, underscoring the systemic hurdles faced by marginalised individuals in the judicial process.

The bench highlighted that capital punishment, being the most severe penalty in the judicial system, must only be imposed when there is absolute certainty about guilt, which was absent in the present case. The judgment also emphasised the responsibility of trial courts to ensure due process, noting that the trial judge must proactively intervene to prevent procedural lapses. “On numerous occasions, this court has highlighted the duty of a trial court to be an active participant to seek out the truth, ensuring that a balance is struck between the role and responsibility of the prosecution as also the rights of the accused,” the bench held.

It also underscored the pivotal role of high courts that need to confirm the death sentence awarded by trial courts. “When particularly concerned with cases of capital punishment, naturally, since a person’s life hangs in the balance, the high court’s responsibility is accordingly enhanced/heightened. It must carefully examine all relevant and material circumstances before upholding the conviction and confirming the sentence of death,” said the bench in its February 4 judgment, released later. The ruling also aligned with international legal principles, particularly Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees equality before the law. The top court highlighted that even in cases involving the gravest crimes, an accused person is entitled to due process protections. In the present case, the man was sentenced to death by a Mainpuri trial court in March 2017 for murdering his wife and minor daughter three years ago. The Allahabad high court confirmed the punishment in October 2018.

Senior counsel and former Delhi high court judge Rajiv Shakdher, appearing for the accused in the Supreme Court, flagged numerous lapses in the conduct of the trial and justifiability of the punishment. Agreeing with him, the bench noted that not only the defence counsel was absent during the examination of key prosecution witnesses, significantly impairing the accused’s ability to challenge the evidence against him, the legal aid counsel appointed for him was also assigned at a belated stage and was changed multiple times. The accused was not given an adequate opportunity to present his defence, as the trial court summarily closed the opportunity for him to produce witnesses without considering the practical difficulties in securing their attendance, the apex court further pointed out. The bench found these lapses to be in violation of the fundamental right to a fair trial, which is enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution. Given these serious procedural flaws, the court ruled that the imposition of the death penalty in such circumstances was untenable.

“To us, the imposition of the death penalty here appears fraught with danger and should not be sustained,” held the bench, adding that the frequent change in defence counsel and the rushed trial process created a situation where the accused’s legal representation was inadequate. It ordered a fresh trial in the matter, starting March 18 and preferably on a day-to-day basis. “In conclusion, we may observe the importance of compliance with the principles of law and procedural rigours, since now, due to such clear noncompliance all parties to the dispute shall have to go through the process of trial once more and relive the horrific offence committed against the two deceased persons…Courts must give due regard to such aspects and not be swayed by the emotions that the offence may evoke,” it stated.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sc-sets-aside-death-penalty-to-man-convicted-of-killing-wife-daughter-101739818284053.html

Black warrant reality check: Is India skipping the noose?

No capital punishment has been approved by the Supreme Court for a second year in a row in India. The last hangings in India were in 2020, when the Nirbhaya case convicts were executed. Though India hasn't officially scrapped capital punishment, despite repeated calls from several quarters, the Supreme Court, it seems, is exercising the utmost restraint when it comes to sending convicts to the gallows.

Sushim Mukul

New Delhi,

UPDATED: Feb 13, 2025 14:03 IST

In 2024, for the second consecutive year, the Supreme Court of India didn't confirm any death sentence, revealed a report from Project 39A of the National Law University Delhi. The Supreme Court, it seems, is exercising the utmost restraint on capital punishment, which has seen calls from several quarters to be scrapped. The sparing use of the hangman's noose wasn't always the case in India, as was reminded by Vikramaditya Motwane's Netflix series Black Warrant. The series, which has won praise, explored the rampant nature of capital punishment through the lens of five executions in Tihar Jail between 1982 and 1985. The Supreme Court's not confirming any death sentence in two years makes us probe if India is gradually loosening the hangman’s noose? This comes even as the number of death row prisoners has gone up significantly in India.

In India, capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is carried out by "hanging by the neck until death", as per the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) that replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Even as several countries like Portugal, the Netherlands, France and Australia have moved towards abolishing executions, and many countries are opting for less painful methods of capital punishment, countries like the US, Iran, China and India have retained a legal framework to enable the death penalty in one way or the other. Capital punishment, which the Supreme Court has repeatedly stated should be used only in the rarest of rare cases, was last carried out in 2020 when four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case, also known as the Nirbhaya case, were hanged.

The NLU report published in January, also revealed that the Supreme Court in 2024 commuted five death sentences to life imprisonment and acquitted one person out of six appellants. The report noted that even as lower trial courts continued to impose death sentences, with 139 such verdicts in 2024, the Supreme Court was reluctant to confirm them. Is the Supreme Court's approach signalling a shift in India's use of capital punishment? Does it align with lower court rulings on death sentences? Let's have a look.

ARE LOWER JUDICIARY, HIGH COURTS TOO GOING EASY ON DEATH SENTENCES?

High Courts across India confirmed death sentences of nine convicts in 2024, the highest number in five years. But the High Courts also commuted the sentences of 79 convicts, acquitted 49, and sent one case back to the trial court, revealed the NLU report. However, this still represents a small fraction of the total death sentences imposed by trial courts. Despite the lack of executions in the past few years in India, the number of prisoners on death row has increased significantly. By the end of 2024, there were 564 prisoners awaiting execution, the highest number since 2000. The rise is a result of a high rate of death sentences imposed by trial courts and a low rate of disposal of death penalty appeals at the High Court level. "This reflects a continuing and unabated increase in the death row population, with a 41% increase since the compilation of the Annual Statistics report in 2016. Trial courts contributed to these high figures by imposing 139 death sentences in 2024," noted the report of Project 39A.

The number of prisoners on death row in India has steadily increased from 404 in 2020 to 564 in 2024.

The steady increase in the number of death row convicts in Indian jails between 2016 and 2024 shows the lower courts continued and unabated use of capital punishments. It also somewhat suggests that death sentences have not effectively deterred heinous crimes. (Graphic: Arun Prakash Uniyal/India Today)

BLACK WARRANTS AND HANGINGS IN INDIA

Since 1991, 16 convicts have been hanged to death in India. Among them were Ajmal Kasab, Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon, who were hanged for waging war against the state, and Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was executed for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl. The hanging of the Nirbahaya gang-rape and murder convicts in March 2020 was the first time in Independent India that four people were hanged at the same site. A death warrant or black warrant is issued when a convict has exhausted all legal resources and is to be executed. A black warrant is addressed to the jail in-charge and is signed by a sessions judge or district magistrate.

WHY DEATH PENALTY, TO BE RARELY USED, IS STILL LEGAL

The death sentence in India, since the days of Constituent Assembly debates, has remained a complex issue. The Constitution does not prevent death sentences but has mention of it in the articles underlining the powers of the President. India continues to have provisions for the death penalty for crimes, including murder, terrorism, organised crime, and rape under both the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and special laws like the Army Act and Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Although the Supreme Court has said that death penalties should be used in the rarest of rare cases, it has also upheld the constitutional validity of them. The top court's exceptional endorsement on the matter has "mitigation circumstances", of specific cases, based on the philosophy of restorative justice, at the centre.

Unlike retributive justice that calls for punishments proportionate to crime, restorative justice seeks to repair the damage, restore well-being, achieve justice and reform the convict. Here, the Supreme Court in its interpretation of the laws has put the onus of reform of the convicts on the state (not the provincial unit, but India), and has called for death sentences and exceptions. Thus, a potential for reform or change in the convicted individual is considered a key exception to imposing a death sentence. The Project 39A report on capital punishments comes weeks after a Supreme Court bench observed just the same as it commuted the death sentence of a UP man convicted of brutally murdering his wife and four minor daughters. "This [Supreme] court has consistently recognised that the imposition of capital punishment is an exception and not the rule. Even where multiple murders have been committed, if there is evidence or at least a reasonable possibility of reform, a lesser sentence must be preferred," noted the three-judge Supreme Court bench in January 2025.

Moreover, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code, has increased the number of offences punishable by death from 12 to 18. Even as the Supreme Court has made these progressive observations relating to the death sentences, no policy-driven change, enabling a legislative move to abolish capital punishment has been undertaken. Also, death sentences have not effectively deterred heinous crimes. Although the Supreme Court is making a move, India does not appear to be moving towards laxing capital punishments at this juncture.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/black-warrant-netflix-no-capital-punishment-is-india-loosening-the-hangmans-noose-death-penalty-data-2678892-2025-02-13

544 capital punishment convicts in Indian jails as of Dec 31, 2022: Ministry of Home Affairs

By HT Correspondent

Published on: Feb 11, 2025 05:17 pm IST

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. 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.

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)

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.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/544-capital-punishment-convicts-in-indian-jails-as-of-dec-31-2022-mha-101739274441421.html

Uttar Pradesh - Murder for dowry: Bareilly court awards death to husband, in-laws

By HT Correspondent, Lucknow

Published on: Feb 06, 2025 09:57 pm IST

The court also imposed a total fine of ₹1.80 lakh on the trio. Additional district and sessions judge (fast track court) Ravi Kumar Diwakar passed the order

The additional district and sessions judge of Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district court on Thursday awarded death sentence to a man and his parents after they were found guilty of his wife’s murder for dowry. The court also imposed a total fine of ₹1.80 lakh on the trio. Additional district and sessions judge (fast track court) Ravi Kumar Diwakar passed the order.

Farah was allegedly hacked to death by her husband Makshad Ali, father -in-law Sabir Ali and mother-in-law Masitan ‘Hamshreen’ at their residence on May 1, 2024. Passing the order, the court observed if stern punishment was not given in this case, security and safety of women will be at stake. “The capital punishment is being awarded to set an example and to work as a deterrent for others,” the court said. It also said if in such cases (dowry deaths) leniency was adopted, it would lead to spurt in dowry killings. Government advocate Digamber Singh represented the state government in the court. The case

Farah was married to Makshad Ali in May 2022. After marriage, her husband and in-laws started demanding cash and a motorcycle in dowry. Farah’s family members took up the matter with her in-laws and expressed their helplessness in fulfilling their demands. “The husband of the deceased and her in-laws killed her with an axe on May 1, 2024. Cops had recovered a blood -stained axe from the house,” said advocate Digamber Singh. During the trial of the case, the prosecution presented eight witnesses before the court. “When the court asked the accused whether they would have done the same thing (killing) with their daughter, they remained silent,” Singh added. Family members of the deceased had lodged an FIR at the Nawabganj police station in connection with the crime.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/lucknow-news/murder-for-dowry-bareilly-court-awards-death-to-husband-inlaws-101738859237838.html