Karnataka police probing suicide case use forensic psychological autopsy for first time in state
Bengaluru: A new technique, forensic psychological autopsy (FPA), used for the investigation of a suicide case, is being introduced in Karnataka to understand the mental state of a deceased person prior to his/her death.
Mumbai police had used this technique during the investigation of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide case, and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team employed FPA in the 2018 Burari deaths in Delhi, reports Deccan Herald.
Karnataka High Court has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe a case of abetment to suicide involving a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer and the assistance of officials from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) has been sought to perform the FPA.
A 33-year-old entrepreneur in Bengaluru, Jeeva S, allegedly committed suicide at home in Padmanabhanagar on November 22, 2024. She had left an 11-page death note, accusing a Deputy Superintendent of Police, BM Kanaka Lakshmi, of ‘harassing and torturing’ her, as Jeeva had been summoned for questioning in a case related to irregularities at the Bhovi Corporation.
An officer in the investigation team said that the FPA would help them understand if the style and process of investigation had led Jeeva to take the extreme step. The team members had spoken to Jeeva’s friends, reviewed interrogation videos, analyzed her suicide note, examined call details and the CCTV camera footage showing Jeeva entering and leaving the interrogation location.
An examination of the video on the interrogation helped the team assess Jeeva’s facial expressions, intonations and responses. There was also a study of the suicide victim’s dress, hair style and physical state on each round of police interrogation, the officer said. A comparison of these records and observations was made, with the team finding that Jeeva expressed stress and lesser interest in herself.
A review of Jeeva’s reactions to the questions of the investigating officer was also conducted to check for any signs of fear or weariness.
The police officers are learned to have spoken to Jeeva’s friends regarding her social behavior and change in interactions after she started attending the interrogations. Further, her phone calls were inspected, with the team finding the analysis to be indicative in nature. The officer has said that Jeeva’s initial firmness and defiance towards interrogation along and call of interrogators gradually turned into a response that indicated fear.
The outcome of the study has been added to the chargesheet, which will be submitted in a few days, said the officer, adding that the police have also been granted sanction for prosecution in the case.
The officer, however, stated that, while the outcome would serve as circumstantial evidence to support police investigation, the results are not conclusive.
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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.
