Special cabinet meeting on caste census in Karnataka ends without any major decision
Bengaluru, Apr 17 (PTI): Amid internal differences over the Social and Educational Survey report, popularly known as 'caste census', a special meeting of Karnataka cabinet that was convened on Thursday to discuss it, ended inconclusive, without any major decision.
However, denying any internal rifts, ministers who attended the meeting said they discussed the parameters used for the survey, and sought for more information and technical details from senior officials.
The cabinet will once again discuss the survey report on May 2 and decide on it.
"The cabinet has discussed the report in detail and it was felt that more information and technical details were required for discussion. So, senior officials have been asked to provide it. The discussion today was incomplete," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said.
Briefing reporters, he said that the discussions happened in a cordial atmosphere, and several matters like population, backwardness, the parameters that were used during the social and educational survey, the economic parameters that were considered, were all discussed to an extent.
As discussions were incomplete, it will be discussed once again. "As the next cabinet meeting will be held in MM Hills in Chamarajanagar district with focus on developmental issues of the region, it has been decided to discuss this matter once again in the cabinet that will be held on May 2, and make a final decision," he added.
According to sources, some ministers expressed reservations about the survey report, citing concerns expressed from several quarters calling it unscientific and outdated, and about undercounting. Following this, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asked all ministers to give their opinion in writing or verbally.
Soon after the meeting ended, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, speaking to reporters, said that the chief minister had asked ministers to give their opinion before the next cabinet meeting.
Though there were reports that a couple of ministers spoke in an "upset tone" during the discussion on the survey report, expressing their reservation about it, this was not confirmed by other ministers present in the cabinet meeting. They maintained that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere.
Various communities, especially Karnataka's two dominant ones -- Vokkaligas and Veershaiva-Lingayats -- have expressed strong reservations about the survey that has been done, calling it "unscientific", and have demanded that it be rejected, and a fresh survey be conducted.
Objections have also been raised by various sections of society, and there are also strong voices against it from within the ruling Congress.
However, not everyone is opposed. Leaders and organisations representing Dalits and some sections of OBCs, among others, are in support of it, and want the government to make the survey report public and proceed with it, stating the government has spent about Rs 160 crore public money on it.
With strong disapproval from the two politically influential communities, the survey report may turn out to be a political hot potato for the government, as it may set the stage for a confrontation, with Dalits and some sections of OBCs, among others demanding for it to be made public and implemented.
Responding to a question, was there any discussion regarding pros and cons of the survey report at the cabinet, Patil said, "nothing like that....Parameters used for the survey like the person's source of income, whether he or she is owning cattles -- such things came up for discussion. Some senior ministers gave their guidance on certain matters and sought for some details."
"Details will be provided by officials. It will be discussed in the next cabinet and decided," he said.
To a question whether there was discussion on the contentious issues of population strength of various communities, the Law Minister said the misinterpretations that are going on regarding the population are not completely true and it has already been clarified. "94.17 per cent of the population was surveyed."
Asked if anyone disputed about the Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat population mentioned in the survey, he said that matter did not come up for discussion today.
Findings of the survey is said to be contrary to the "traditional perception" with regard to the numerical strength of various castes, especially the dominant Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas, making it a politically sticky issue.
According to sources, ministers from these two communities have placed their objections in this regard, during the cabinet meeting.
Both Veershaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas, and also few other communities have alleged that their various sub castes have been divided among different categories of OBC, resulting in decrease in their respective population numbers. They have alleged that many households were left out from the survey or undercounting.
After a long wait, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes' report was placed before the cabinet for the first time on April 11.
The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government (2013-2018) had in 2015 commissioned the survey in the state.
The State Backward Classes Commission, under its then chairperson H Kantharaju, was tasked with preparing a caste census report. The survey work was completed in 2018 towards the end of Siddaramaiah's first tenure as Chief Minister, and the report was finalised by his successor K Jayaprakash Hegde in February 2024.
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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.
