Is Capital Punishment True Justice?

February 15, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

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India is one of the few countries across the world that still retains the death penalty. Civil society experts’ abolitionist view on the death penalty is at odds with the public’s anger and want for retributive justice. Read on!

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Two days before the 2025 Delhi assembly polls, a study was released by the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and widely reported by news organisations, highlighting the impact of "illegal immigration" to Delhi, particularly by Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants. 

In November 2024, just a day before the Maharashtra assembly elections, Tata Institute Of Social Sciences (TISS) released a starkly similar study on the impact of "illegal immigration" to Mumbai, by Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants. 

Why the two studies are dubious and flawed: 

  • Archis Chowdhury analysed both the studies and found that they surveyed only undocumented migrants in high-density migrant areas and generalised their findings for the entire city's population. No data or evidence shown to support the assumption that the selected areas have high density of undocumented migrants. 

  • No information provided on questions asked during surveys and KII, and on the topics of discussions for focus groups. 

  • Selection bias in choosing interviews for Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) resulting in one-sided observations. Counter-views are ignored. 

  • Consistent use of biased and politically charged language, with several sections reading more like opinion pieces rather than objective academic research. 

  • Both reports released a day before elections in respective states, and used as campaign points by BJP. 

  • No empirical evidence to support the claim that illegal migration has significantly increased the share of Muslim population in Mumbai and Delhi. Reports ignore natural birth rates among existing Muslim populations and migration from other Indian states. 

  • TISS study contradicts itself by projecting conflicting Hindu population percentages for Mumbai in 2051 (54% in one section, 60% in another).

Meanwhile, Fundación Maldita.es, a non-profit foundation based in Spain, analysed 11,75,837 community notes proposed by X users worldwide in 2024 and found:

  • Fact-checking organisations are the third most used reference globally when someone proposes a community note on X, only behind X itself and Wikipedia. Links to fact-checkers are present in 1 of every 27 notes proposed. 

  • Community notes that contain a link to a fact-checking organisation are more trusted by X users and thus much more likely to become visible alongside tweets/posts that contain misinformation: only 8.3% of all proposed notes become visible, but it is 12% for those citing evidence from a fact-checking organisation and it reaches 15.2% in Europe.

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LAW, JUSTICE ET AL

Kasab to Greeshma: Why Some Crimes End in Death Penalty and Others Don’t

In one Indian courtroom: On the morning of 20 January 2025, anticipation filled the courtroom in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district as the verdict was about to be delivered in the case where 24-year-old Greeshma was accused of poisoning and murdering her boyfriend, Sharon. Moments later, Greeshma was sentenced to death.

In another Indian courtroom: The same day, thousands of kilometers away in West Bengal, a family awaited justice for their daughter, a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College, who had been raped and murdered in August 2024. While they hoped for the death penalty, they had already sensed that it might not go their way. On January 20, the Sealdah court sentenced Sanjoy Roy, who had earlier been pronounced guilty, to life in prison. 

The arbitrariness of death penalty: Sunil Gupta, a former jailor in Delhi, has observed the evolution of capital punishment in India over the decades. "In the early years post-independence, the death penalty was frequently awarded, particularly in high-profile cases where public pressure was intense. The more prominent the victim, the greater the likelihood of capital punishment," he told BOOM’s Ritika Jain.

AI-generated visuals and deepfakes are increasingly being used to spread mis/disinformation. Some of the social media platforms are staying away from fact-checking and therefore leaving facts to not be a necessity anymore. At such a time, we need your support more than ever. And it starts with taking this 2-minute-survey. Your responses will help us serve you better, and become sustainable in our shared mission to fight mis/disinformation.

EXPLAINED

Aadhaar Authentication Now Open To Private Companies. Is It Safe?

Aadhaar rules update: The Indian government has changed Aadhaar authentication rules, now allowing private businesses to use Aadhaar verification for customer identification. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) announced the change this month, stating that it will make life easier for people and improve access to services. 

Is it safe?: Experts are concerned about data privacy and security risks since there are no clear safeguards against the misuse of biometric data. 

Privacy concerns: The new changes may conflict with the Supreme Court's 2018 ruling, which struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, preventing private companies from using Aadhaar for KYC. Tech lawyer Salman Waris told Hera Rizwan, “As long as requesting entities follow data security and privacy measures, these rules may not violate the Act. However, the rules should ensure that these entities comply with the Act’s security provisions.”

THE LIE COUNT

January 2025 Marks Sharpest Rise In AI Disinfo In A Single Month: BOOM Study

  • In the month of January 2025, BOOM published 21 fact-checks addressing AI-generated claims, marking the highest number of AI-related fact-checks in a single month to date.

  • The majority of misinformation we found was around the ongoing ‘Maha Kumbh Mela’ held in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. 

  • Other major topics included Islamophobic narratives, the Delhi Assembly elections and the fires in Los Angeles.

'FAKE NEWS’ YOU ALMOST FELL FOR

🔍 A 2023 video of YouTuber Samay Raina roasting rappers at the launch of a music album was falsely viral claiming it shows the comedian sarcastically apologising after the recent India’s Got Latent controversy. Read 🔗 Anmol Alphonso’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 A clipped video was recently shared on social media with a false claim that it shows Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda insulting the Indian Constitution by placing it near his feet in the Rajya Sabha. 🔗 Srijit Das ↗️ debunked the claim.

🔍 Does this video show podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia crying following outrage and police action over his controversial joke on comedian Samay Raina’s YouTube show? Find out in 🔗 Anmol Alphonso’s ↗️ fact-check.

🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: What’s a Fact, Anyway?

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