AMNESTY URGES INDIA TO BAND EXECUTIONS

Rights group Amnesty International urged the Indian government to impose an immediate moratorium on executions and move to abolish the death penalty. The group says there are "grave concerns about arbitrariness and discrimination" in processes leading to the death penalty. Indian authorities say the death penalty is rarely carried out and is usually reserved for serious cases. Apart from a single execution in 2004, there have been no executions in the country in the past ten years. In a new report, Amnesty says the Indian government does not disclose how many people have been executed and how many are awaiting execution today. It says, according to official figures, there were 273 people awaiting the death penalty in Indian prisons as at the end of December 2005. The group says it "believes this figure to be a gross underestimate". The report says "innocent people" have been sentenced to death on the basis of "false and fabricated evidence, often used in manipulated investigations and prosecutions, with investigating and prosecuting agencies acting in collusion". Amnesty urged the government to ensure that the death penalty was not imposed on anyone suffering from mental disability.