Majority of disabled people in Bengaluru Rural, Tumakuru lack health insurance coverage: Report
Bengaluru: An overwhelming majority of people with disabilities in Bengaluru Rural and Tumakuru remain without health insurance coverage, with most having received no health support or assistive aids in the past year, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) and the NGO Astha.
The report, as cited by Deccan Herald, surveyed 758 individuals—388 from Bengaluru Rural and 370 from Tumakuru—55 percent of whom were men. Alarmingly, the findings reveal that 96 percent of disabled persons in Tumakuru and 88 percent in Bengaluru Rural do not have access to health insurance.
Over 90 percent of respondents across both districts reported not having availed any form of health support or assistive devices last year. In addition to this, a large proportion of participants suffered from locomotor disabilities.
Education and employment statistics were equally stark—47 percent in Bengaluru Rural and 24 percent in Tumakuru were illiterate, and around 70 percent of all respondents were unemployed, relying entirely on family support. Most of the families in both districts earned less than Rs 1 lakh per annum.
Respondents expressed that their disabilities compounded existing hardships—ranging from limited access to education and employment to social exclusion and economic difficulties, added the report. Many also acknowledged vulnerability to climate change-related health impacts.
“The tragedy of the disability sector is that the basics are not in place. Health for people with disabilities is a matter of life and death; assistive aids cannot be populist schemes,” DH quoted Arman Ali, Executive Director of NCPEDP, as saying.
The report proposes a series of recommendations to address the systemic gaps: Creating disability-friendly public services, subsidising healthcare and improving accessibility to health insurance schemes, census based on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, updating Disability IDs, community-based health management and private and charitable organisations' involvement, and capacity building of caregivers through self-help groups.
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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.
