A look at death penalties handed out by trial courts in last 2 decades

Trial courts across the country have awarded death sentences to multiple convicts in several cases in the last two decades. Following are some of them:

* Jan 30, 2024: A Kerala court sentenced to death 15 people associated with the now-banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with the 2021 murder of BJP OBC wing leader Ranjith Sreenivasan.

* Feb 2022: A Sessions Court in Ahmedabad sentenced to death 38 people for their involvement in a 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case. Their appeals and confirmation of the death sentence are pending before the Gujarat High Court.

* Dec 2016: A Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court sentenced to death Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and four others in the 2013 Hyderabad blasts case. Their appeals and confirmation of the death sentence are pending before the Hyderabad High Court.

* Apr 2014: Mumbai court sentenced to death three convicts for raping a photojournalist inside an abandoned textile mill in 2013. The Bombay High Court commuted to life imprisonment the death penalty in November 2021.

* Sep 2013: Four men were sentenced to death in the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case. They were hanged to death in Tihar Jail in March 2021.

* Mar 2011: A special court sentenced to death 11 convicts in the Godhra Train burning case. The Gujarat High Court commuted their death sentences to rigorous life imprisonment in October 2017. Against the high court’s order, the State filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, which is currently pending.

* Jul 2007: A special TADA court sentenced to death 12 convicts in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. The Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of 10 convicts to life imprisonment while upholding the sentence against Yakub Memon in March 2013. He was hanged in Nagpur Central Jail on July 30, 2015.

* In 2022, Gujarat saw a sharp rise in trial courts giving capital punishment with 50 people being sentenced to death till August compared to 46 between 2006 and 2021, according to the data available with courts in the state.