Gold hits new high, 10 grams of 24-carat touches Rs 1 lakh in Karnataka
Bengaluru: Gold prices in Karnataka have surged to a historic high, with ten grams of 24-carat gold crossing the Rs 1 lakh mark in Bengaluru. Market insiders opined that the trend is likely to continue upward.
As of Monday morning, gold was priced at Rs 10,200 per gram for 24-carat and Rs 9,285 for 22-carat in Bengaluru, excluding GST and additional charges such as making and wastage, as reported by The New Indian Express.
The steep rise comes ahead of Akshaya Tritiya, which falls on April 30 this year, a day considered highly auspicious for purchasing gold and silver.
“The rate of gold is escalating due to prevailing global uncertainty and the US dollar’s continued slide. Historically, gold has been a safe investment. It allows for easy liquidation—no other medium offers that kind of leverage,” TNIE quoted Suresh Kumar Ganna, former president of The Jewellers’ Association, Bengaluru as saying.
He added that in just four months, the price of gold, which was around Rs 75,000 for 10gm, has jumped by over Rs 25,000.
Dinesh Pagaria, Managing Director of JJJ Jewellers Private Limited, noted that gold prices have nearly tripled in six years. “Ten grams of 24-carat gold was within Rs 35,000 in 2019. Now, in 2025, the rate has tripled, standing at around Rs 1,03,000 lakh, excluding GST and other charges,” TNIE quoted Pagaria as saying.
Explaining the recent spike, Pagaria said that they are hearing from gold traders that China is aggressively buying gold and increasing their gold reserves. “They are converting their dollar reserves into gold,” he said.
He described gold as the “only trustworthy global currency,” predicting that prices could jump another 25 percent within the year.
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High courts upheld only 8 per cent of death sentences; SC confirms none in recent years: Report
New Delhi (PTI): Highlighting that a high acquittal rate of death row convicts by the Supreme Court and high courts demonstrates a pattern of "erroneous or unjustified convictions", a study of 10 years of death penalty data has revealed that the top court did not confirm any death sentences in recent years.
The study by Square Circle Clinic, a criminal laws advocacy group with the NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad, found that an overwhelming majority of death sentences imposed by trial courts did not withstand scrutiny at higher judicial levels. Acquittals far outnumbered confirmations at both the high courts and Supreme Court levels.
According to the report, the trial courts across India awarded 1,310 death sentences in 822 cases between 2016 and 2025. High courts considered 842 of these sentences in confirmation proceedings but upheld only 70 or 8.31 per cent.
In contrast, 258 death sentences (30.64 per cent) resulted in acquittals. The study noted that the acquittal rate at the high court level was nearly four times the confirmation rate.
Data showed that of the 70 death sentences confirmed by high courts, the Supreme Court decided 38 and did not uphold a single one. The apex court has confirmed no death sentences between 2023 and 2025.
"Wrongful or erroneous or unjustified convictions, then, are not random or freak accidents in the Indian criminal justice system. The data indicates they are a persistent and serious systemic concern," the report said.
Over the last decade, high courts adjudicated 1,085 death sentences in 647 cases, confirming only 106 (9.77 per cent). During this period, 326 persons in 191 cases, were acquitted.
The report attributed low confirmation rates to the appellate judiciary’s concerns regarding failures in due process. "This coincides with increased Supreme Court scrutiny of safeguards at the sentencing stage," the report said.
Of the 153 death sentences decided by the apex court over the last decade, the accused were acquitted in 38 cases. In 2025 alone, high courts overturned death sentences into acquittals in 22 out of 85 cases (over 25 per cent). The same year, Supreme Court acquitted accused persons in more than half of the death penalty cases it decided (10 out of 19), the report said.
The study highlighted that 364 persons who were ultimately acquitted "should not even have been convicted and unjustifiably suffered the trauma of death row". It added that such failures extend beyond adjudication and reflect serious lapses in investigation and prosecution.
The question of remedies for wrongful convictions remains pending before the Supreme Court. In September 2025, three persons acquitted by the apex court filed writ petitions seeking compensation from the state and argued that their wrongful convictions violated their fundamental right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
"In 2022, the Supreme Court crystallised a sentencing process in Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh , and mandated all courts to follow those guidelines before imposing or confirming a death sentence," the report read.
In 2025, the apex court held in Vasanta Sampat Dupare v. Union of India that death penalty sentencing hearings form part of the right to a fair trial and stressed that capital punishment can be imposed only after a constitutionally compliant sentencing process.
"However, even at the high courts whether the process mandated under Manoj is being complied with is in doubt,” the report said.
