Over a decade to 2015, Indian courts sentenced 1,734 persons to death, according to a FactChecker analysis of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the latest available.

Three of those sentenced to death were executed.

Source: National Crime Records Bureau

Yakub Memon was hanged to death on July 30,2015 for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 people were killed and 700 were injured .

Over the decade to 2015, the sentences of 3,733 convicted inmates were commuted to life-imprisonment. Uttar Pradesh awarded the most death sentences (345) followed by Maharashtra (118), and Madhya Pradesh (117), an analysis of the data showed.

As of 2015, 74,821 persons or 56% convicted inmates in Indian jails were serving a life imprisonment sentence, NCRB data show.

Source: National Crime Records Bureau

The highest percentages of inmates serving life-terms were recorded in Daman & Diu (80%), Puducherry (77.8%), and UP (70%).

A special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court in Mumbai sentenced extradited gangster Abu Salem and Karimullah Khan to life imprisonment in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case on September 7, 2017.

The court sentenced Mohammed Tahir Merchant and Feroze Abdul Rashid to death, and gave Riyaz Siddiqui a jail-term of 10 years. Siddiqui has one more sentence pending in another murder case.

Since India extradited Salem through a treaty with Portugal (which does not support capital punishment), he cannot be given the death sentence. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment of 25 years, The Economic Times reported on September 7, 2017.

Alison Saldanha