Project 39A’s Annual Death Penalty Report 2023 exposes India’s hidden gender bias: all 561 death-row prisoners are men. Trial courts rush, investigations collapse, and the law expands the noose. Why does equality end where the gallows begin?
Justice or Gender Bias? Why Only Men Hang in India’s Death Cells
Equality before law should mean equality in punishment too but in India’s death cells, only men wait to die. India’s justice system continues to execute men faster than it delivers justice. The Project 39A Annual Death Penalty Report 2023 (NLU Delhi) shows a grim picture: 561 men on death row; the highest in 19 years and not a single woman. Trial courts imposed 120 new death sentences in 2023 mainly for homicide and sexual offences, while the Supreme Court confirmed none. The result is a system that punishes men in haste and corrects its mistakes too late.
2023: When Men Were Sentenced Faster Than Justice Could Think
- 561 men on death row increase by 45.71% since 2015.
- 120 new death sentences.
- 303 cases and 488 prisoners pending before 23 High Courts.
- Only one confirmation by Karnataka High Court; zero by SC.
- 15% drop in case disposal rate as compared to 2022.
- Every number tells a story of rushed trials and delayed redemption.
Sexual Offence = Certain Death But Only for Men of our country
More than 53% of death sentences arose from sexual-offence cases mostly homicidal rape of girls under 12. Yet in 86.96% of cases, judges ignored the Supreme Court’s Manoj v. State of MP (2022) mandate for psychological and background reports.
Speed of sentencing: 37% same-day or next-day, 46% within a week and only 17% after a week. When the law decides a man’s death before it understands his life, it ceases to be justice.
Mitigation Ignored: Judging Without Knowing
Despite legal directions, most courts failed to consider mitigating factors. Few called for probation reports or psychiatric evaluations. Only Kerala and Telangana High Courts have started using mitigation investigators. Men are not only tried for their crimes they’re punished for their silence and social position.
Supreme Court Steps In – To Undo Lower Courts’ Errors
In 2023 the Supreme Court: Confirmed 0 death sentences, Acquitted 6 men in 5 cases and Remanded 2 cases.
Findings of the Supreme Court includes: flawed forensics, coerced confessions, contradictory evidence.
Who Are India’s Condemned Men?
The report shows a class and caste pattern: most death-row prisoners come from poor, marginalized, and low-education backgrounds. They are daily-wage workers, migrants, farm labourers defended by overworked legal-aid lawyers. Justice for them isn’t a right; it’s a luxury.
Gender Paradox: Women Kill, Men Hang
India has never executed a woman. Even Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit convicted for child abductions and murders (2001) had their death sentences commuted in 2022. Every other death-row prisoner since then is male. Our system can imagine a bad man, but never a bad woman. Equality before law turns into compassion by gender.
New Criminal Codes: A Wider Noose, Same Bias
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) expands death-eligible offences from 12 to 18. Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) & Bharatiya Sakshya Bill (BSB) modernize procedure and evidence, but ignore gender neutrality. BNS codifies mercy petition rules but offers no sentencing reform. India is legislating new ways to hang men, not to understand them.
High Courts Drowning in Death
23 High Courts = 303 pending cases / 488 prisoners. Disposal rate down 15%. The pipeline is jammed that is trial courts condemn, High Courts delay, Supreme Court cleans up. Men wait a decade in solitary confinement for the system to notice its mistake.
Life Before Death: Torture by Waiting
Project 39A documents how long-term death-row confinement causes severe psychological damage. Men live in tiny cells, minimal sunlight, no rehabilitation, no certainty. Their punishment starts long before the execution order. India kills its men twice; first in spirit, then in law.”
The Bigger Picture: Justice Without Gender Bias
The report calls for: Mandatory mitigation investigation in every capital case, Judicial training on unconscious gender and class bias, Transparency in death-penalty data and Debate on abolition vs reform based on facts, not fear. But reform begins with admission that men bear the entire burden of the noose.
Conclusion: Men Die, Justice Sleeps
All 561 on death row are men. Their crimes vary, their trials flawed, their fates identical. Courts rush to sentence, delay to review, and forget to reflect. The rope is gender-specific; mercy is gender-exclusive. If equality means shared rights, it must also mean shared punishment. Until then, India’s death row remains the loudest proof that men’s rights end where the gallows begin.
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