Death penalty to 48, life to 6,065 since July 1, 2023: U.P. govt

As many as 48 people were awarded the death penalty, mostly in the cases of murder after a sexual offence, between July 1, 2023 and December 11, 2024 in Uttar Pradesh, said state finance and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna in response to a question by Samajwadi Party MLA Ravidas Mehrotra during the ongoing winter session of Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday.

Sharing further details, the minister said a total of 6,065 people were awarded life sentences, 1,046 were given 20 or more years of imprisonment, 73 were sentenced to 15 to 19 years of imprisonment, 3,610 people were awarded jail terms for 10 to 14 years, 5,564 were sentenced to serve five to nine years and 22,298 were awarded sentences of below five years in the same period.

In total, 64,693 people accused of crimes were convicted and sentenced between July 1, 2023 and December 11, 2024, Khanna explained.

Khanna added this was possible as the BJP government in the state had strengthened the prosecution process.

He further stated that as many as 415 people in 2017, 631 in 2018, 665 in 2019, 535 and 1,230 in the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, 2,313 in 2022, 2,841 in 2023, and 2,440 in 2024 till December 15 were convicted and given sentences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act in the state.

In a written answer, the minister stated that 6,984 people accused of rape were convicted and given sentences between April of 2017 and August 20, 2024; 6,882 others accused of violent crimes against women were also convicted in the same period.

He added that crimes against women had seen a drastic fall since the BJP government came into power in the state in 2017. He said as many as 2,524 dowry death cases were reported in 2017, but the number reduced to 2,061 in 2023 and 1,418 this year till August 31. As many as 2,444, 2,410, 2,274, 2,222 and 2,138 dowry deaths were reported in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Similarly, 4,246 rape cases were reported in 2017, 2,614 in 2023 and 1,718 this year till August 31. In 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, 3,946, 3,065, 2,769, 2,845, and 3,690 rape cases were reported.

Meanwhile, 14,493 cases of kidnapping and abduction were reported in 2017, 10,910 in 2023 and 8,305 this year till August 31. In 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, 15,381, 11,649, 9,109, 10,574 and 14,887 kidnapping and abduction cases were reported.