Prisoners on death row: Andhra ranks fourth in awarding capital punishment

Andhra Pradesh is the fourth state where the highest number of death sentences was awarded by courts last year. Thirteen people were sentenced to death in 2021. Around 14 prisoners are on death row, which is the highest in the past few years.

The death penalty in India report said that the number of prisoners on death row at the end of 2021 stood at 488 in the country, the highest in the 17 years. The report said 2021 saw the highest number of prisoners on death row since 2016. People on death row have increased by 21 percent from 2020. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha saw the highest number of death sentences being awarded in 2021. Of the 13 persons who were awarded the death penalty in Andhra Pradesh, 12 were convicted for highway murders.

Considering as rarest of rare cases in the state, a sessions court in Ongole of Prakasam district awarded the death sentence to dreaded gangster and serial highway killer Md Abdul Samad alias Munna Bhai and 11 of his accomplices, who were found guilty of dacoity and murder in three cases

Prakasam police, which investigated the sensational highway murder cases, said Munna Bhai and his gang had been involved in the waylaying of trucks on the Chennai-Kolkata highway during 2008 and escaping with vehicles and goods after the murder. The gang might have murdered 20 persons belonging to various states. Initially, police were clueless when several fully loaded trucks disappeared from the highway. Prakasam police achieved a breakthrough when they visited different states. The judgment in the case has been sent to the Andhra Pradesh High Court for confirmation. The convicts in the case also approached the AP High Court, the police added

The report stated that the sessions courts in AP imposed one death sentence in 2017, four death sentences in 2018, and three death sentences in 2020. The legal fraternity said the death penalties imposed by the trial courts need confirmation from the High Court. It may take some time to implement the death sentence. Sometimes the death sentences are commuted to life imprisonment, they added.