Death penalty up by 53% in 2018, but most rape cases stuck at trial: Data

The four men convicted for the December 2012 rape and murder of ‘Nirbhaya’ are yet to be hanged. President Ram Nath Kovind had earlier rejected a mercy petition filed by one of the convicts.
 
India has carried out four executions since 2004, the last having been in 2015. Three of the accused were convicted of terrorism, while one was guilty of raping a minor.
 
In 2018, 186 convicts were awarded the death penalty, a 53% rise from 121 in 2017, according to the latest Prison Statistics India-2018 of the National Crime Records Bureau.
 
More than 40% of