ladyarkles
03-28-2005, 06:22 PM
INDIA:
People's Union for Democratic Rights
PRESS RELEASE - 9 March 2005
End secrecy and silence on death penalty and executions
The People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) called upon the Government today to end the silence and secrecy on the execution of death sentences and make public all information on people executed since independence.
While the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has provided information of executions post 1995, no such information has been made available before this period. In August 2004, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was widely reported in the media as the 55th person to be hanged in India. No source was attributed to this number, nor was any contrary information revealed by any government agency. The general belief that India uses the death sentence rarely and only few people have been executed was thus strengthened.
Information recently unearthed by PUDR however clearly shows that at least 1422 executions were carried out in a single decade (1953 - 1963) in various states in India. This information provided in Appendix XXXIV of the 35th Report of the Law Commission of India, 1967 sheds new light on the subject of the death penalty and raises important questions as to why the Government maintained its silence. "The continued suppression of information by the various agencies of the State is a deliberate attempt at misinformation and raises concerns", said a PUDR spokesperson.
Previously various journalists have reported that the Government does not maintain information on executions. Refuting this argument, the PUDR spokesperson pointed out that given the depth of statistical detail on crime otherwise provided; it was not plausible that the silence on death penalty and executions was for lack for information. Reiterating the need for transparency within the criminal justice system, PUDR observed that there was no space in a democratic nation for executions to be carried out in secrecy and silence. "Now that we know of 1422 executions already carried out, we fear the total number since Independence would be high in the thousands", concluded the spokesperson.
PUDR opposes the imposition of the death penalty in all cases. It further believes that an informed public debate on the death penalty cannot take place in the absence of information on executions that the State is withholding.
Deepika Tandon, (Secretary, PUDR)
Number of people executed in various states from 1953 - 1963
1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 Total
Andamans 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2
Andhra Pradesh 20 3 15 12 13 8 20 16 9 3 119
Bihar 6 3 7 3 5 2 4 4 2 0 36
Gujarat 2 1 2 1 0 3 4 1 2 5 21
Himachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Kerala 11 9 2 0 5 10 16 9 7 15 84
Madhya Pradesh 6 10 7 5 7 1 3 0 39
Madras State 44 53 56 50 59 71 45 51 33 23 485
Maharashtra 4 4 5 4 4 6 8 10 7 4 56
Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Mysore State 1 1 4 1 2 1 3 3 0 0 16
Orissa 2 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 10
Punjab 10 11 16 11 12 12 20 21 11 4 140
Tripura 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
UP 24 46 41 54 41 47 47 44 36 17 397
West Bengal 1 1 2 4 1 1 2 0 3 0 15
TOTAL (yearly) 21 108 150 151 153 144 181 174 150 107 73 1422
(source: PUDR)
People's Union for Democratic Rights
PRESS RELEASE - 9 March 2005
End secrecy and silence on death penalty and executions
The People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) called upon the Government today to end the silence and secrecy on the execution of death sentences and make public all information on people executed since independence.
While the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has provided information of executions post 1995, no such information has been made available before this period. In August 2004, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was widely reported in the media as the 55th person to be hanged in India. No source was attributed to this number, nor was any contrary information revealed by any government agency. The general belief that India uses the death sentence rarely and only few people have been executed was thus strengthened.
Information recently unearthed by PUDR however clearly shows that at least 1422 executions were carried out in a single decade (1953 - 1963) in various states in India. This information provided in Appendix XXXIV of the 35th Report of the Law Commission of India, 1967 sheds new light on the subject of the death penalty and raises important questions as to why the Government maintained its silence. "The continued suppression of information by the various agencies of the State is a deliberate attempt at misinformation and raises concerns", said a PUDR spokesperson.
Previously various journalists have reported that the Government does not maintain information on executions. Refuting this argument, the PUDR spokesperson pointed out that given the depth of statistical detail on crime otherwise provided; it was not plausible that the silence on death penalty and executions was for lack for information. Reiterating the need for transparency within the criminal justice system, PUDR observed that there was no space in a democratic nation for executions to be carried out in secrecy and silence. "Now that we know of 1422 executions already carried out, we fear the total number since Independence would be high in the thousands", concluded the spokesperson.
PUDR opposes the imposition of the death penalty in all cases. It further believes that an informed public debate on the death penalty cannot take place in the absence of information on executions that the State is withholding.
Deepika Tandon, (Secretary, PUDR)
Number of people executed in various states from 1953 - 1963
1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 Total
Andamans 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2
Andhra Pradesh 20 3 15 12 13 8 20 16 9 3 119
Bihar 6 3 7 3 5 2 4 4 2 0 36
Gujarat 2 1 2 1 0 3 4 1 2 5 21
Himachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Kerala 11 9 2 0 5 10 16 9 7 15 84
Madhya Pradesh 6 10 7 5 7 1 3 0 39
Madras State 44 53 56 50 59 71 45 51 33 23 485
Maharashtra 4 4 5 4 4 6 8 10 7 4 56
Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Mysore State 1 1 4 1 2 1 3 3 0 0 16
Orissa 2 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 10
Punjab 10 11 16 11 12 12 20 21 11 4 140
Tripura 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
UP 24 46 41 54 41 47 47 44 36 17 397
West Bengal 1 1 2 4 1 1 2 0 3 0 15
TOTAL (yearly) 21 108 150 151 153 144 181 174 150 107 73 1422
(source: PUDR)