NLU-Delhi study: 80% of death row convicts were tortured in prison

• Number of prisoners whose mercy petitions are pending before state governors or the President of India, plus those whose death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court, but a mercy petition has not been filed.
• Maharashtra (14) and Bihar (5) account for the highest of number of these prisoners.
• Twenty-one of the 373 prisoners' mercy petitions have been rejected by the President.
• Karnataka (9) and Uttar Pradesh (4) had the highest number convicts whose mercy petitions have been rejected.
• Among the pending appeals, 270 are in high courts, while 52 are pending at the Supreme Court.

• Among those whose mercy petitions have been rejected by the President, the average time spent in jail is 16.9 years.
• The longest incarceration time was 25 years for Navinder Singh, accused of murdering 13 people. Finally, his death sentence was commuted by the Supreme Court, citing inordinate delay.
• The median year for incarceration is 12 years, among the 30 prisoners whose mercy petitions are pending at various levels.

• A total of 216 out of 270 respondents who spoke about police custody admitted to being tortured in custody.
• Haryana, Gujarat and Kerala had the highest number of prisoners facing torture.
• Some horrific forms of physical torture employed by the police are: 'being immersed in boiling water', 'made to urinate on heater', and 'fingers broken with pliers'.
• Psychological torture is another way used to extract confessions.
• One prisoner said: "The police blindfolded me and fired gunshots in the air. I feared for my life with every passing moment. The only way to end this was to confess before the magistrate."

Nearly three-fourths of prisoners on death row were economically vulnerable, employed in the unorganised sector, in factories, as manual scavengers or auto drivers.

• In Kerala, 93% of these prisoners were poor, followed by Maharashtra (88.9%) and Delhi (80%).
• Another appalling fact: 61% of prisoners awaiting the gallows did not even complete secondary schooling.
• However, death row prisoners have an equal mix of socio-religious communities : 34.6% belong to Other Backward Classes, 24.5% are Dalits and tribals, 24% are from the general category and 20.7% belong to the religious minoritie