Cyclone Remal: One person killed in Kolkata, says NDRF
New Delhi (PTI): One person died in Kolkata due to a wall collapse incident that took place during cyclonic storm 'Remal' that made landfall last night in the coastal area between West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh, a senior NDRF officer said Monday.
Fourteen teams of the federal contingency force are undertaking restoration and rescue work by clearing uprooted trees, electric poles and helping people come out of marooned areas hit by heavy rainfall, he said.
These teams have removed about 54 uprooted trees, two electric poles and cleared about 18 kms of roads in affected areas of Hasnabad, Sandeshkhali, Gosana, Sagar, Shyampur and Haringhata, he said.
According to the latest report received through the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), one person has been killed in a wall collapse incident in Kolkata.
The NDRF teams are on job to clear roads and aid West Bengal agencies in restoring normalcy in the aftermath of cyclone Remal that made a landfall in the midnight and is expected to convert into a deep depression by this evening, he said.
Visuals shared by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) this morning showed its rescuers using electric saws to cut uprooted trees even as some others were seen working on electricity and communication poles that were thrashed to the ground due to strong winds and rains.
Apart from the 14 teams in West Bengal, one NDRF unit is deployed in Tripura, which may see heavy rains due to Remal, the officer said.
The NDRF teams are deployed in various districts of West Bengal like Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Murshidabad, Nadia, Howrah and Hooghly.
The cyclone ravaged adjacent coasts of the state and Bangladesh between Sagar Island and Khepupara, near the southwest of Mongla in the neighbouring country, after its landfall process began at 8.30 pm on Sunday, causing extensive damage to infrastructure and property.
Waterlogging has been reported in several areas, compounding the misery of the affected residents.
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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.
