India opposed a resolution calling for a global moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty at the UN General Assembly, saying there was no international consensus against capital punishment and that sovereign states had the right to frame their own laws and punishments.
The resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly's Third Committee on Friday, with 133 countries voting in favour, 33 against and 16 abstaining. India voted against it, maintaining the position it had taken during earlier sessions in 2016, 2018 and 2024.
India's First Secretary at the Permanent Mission to the UN, Bhavika Mangalanandan, said Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognised the death penalty under specified conditions. She said capital punishment was awarded in India only after a stringent legal process.
She said it was inappropriate to describe the death penalty as a death caused by the state. India awarded the punishment only in the “rarest of rare” cases and provided safeguards, including the presumption of innocence, mandatory approval by higher courts and consideration of mitigating circumstances while deciding the sentence, she said.
India also opposed language in another UN resolution that linked the death penalty with torture and inhuman treatment. However, New Delhi supported the broader resolution aimed at eliminating unlawful and arbitrary killings.
The United States also voted against the resolution on a global moratorium on executions. France welcomed its adoption as an important step towards the universal abolition of the death penalty.
