The number of cases ending in capital punishment for...

The number of cases ending in capital punishment for the accused has been on the increase in India's Bihar state during the last two decades. This despite the fact that there has been a sustained worldwide campaign against capital punishment. According to Patna High Court sources, various lower courts in the state award death sentence in "nine to 11 cases" every year. "For a few years, the number has been less than 11; it is not 12," a high court official said. According to another official, the high court normally converts "the death reference to life imprisonment" in most of the cases on appeal.Recently, the fifth additional sessions judge of Samastipur, Sheo Murat Ram, gave the death sentence to two persons, Raghunath Sahni of Samastipur and Ram Sagar Mahto of Muzaffarpur, who were involved in a dacoity-cum-murder case in 1997.The number of such cases till June had reached "about five", the high court official said, adding "if the trend continues, the final tally for this year, too, would be about 11." Incidentally, the number of such cases remained around "two to three" all through the 1970s and 1980s, he said.At present, the number of convicts, who have condemned to death and who are lodged in various Central jails, could be about 22, a senior police official said. Capital punishment is executed only at the Bhagalpur Central Jail. A Bhagalpur jail official said that his jail has at present five such convicts, awaiting the result of their appeals. Eleven other such prisoners are to be taken to Bhagalpur from the Muzaffarpur jail. About six others could be in other state jails, the police official added.