Statement by India at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group 27^th Session (1-12 May 2017) on Death Penalty: 3^rd UPR of India. [Geneva, 4 May 2017]

Mr. President,

In India, death penalty is awarded in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases, where the crime committed is so heinous as to shock the conscience of society and then of the court which awards it. Further, Indian law imposes and provides for all requisite procedural safeguards, including right to a fair hearing by an independent Court, presumption of innocence, minimum guarantee for the defence, and right to review by a higher court. Death sentences in India must also be confirmed by a superior court and an accused has the right to appeal to the High Court or the Supreme Court.

2. Indian laws have specific provisions for suspension of the death penalty in case of pregnant women and has rulings by court that prohibited executions of persons with mental or intellectual disabilities, while juvenile offenders cannot be sentenced to death under any circumstances.

3. Further, the Supreme Court of India has adopted guidelines on clemency and treatment of death row prisoners and that “poverty, socio-economic, psychic compulsions, undeserved adversities in life” constitute new mitigating factors to be considered by courts in commuting a death sentence to life imprisonment.

4. The President of India in all cases, and the Governors of States under their respective jurisdictions, also have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment so as to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of death any person convicted of any offence.

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