The Supreme Court of India has not confirmed a single death penalty in the last three years. This comes from a report by The Square Circle Clinic at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. In 2025 alone, the Supreme Court acquitted 10 death row prisoners. This is the highest number of such acquittals in the last ten years. Sessions Courts across India sentenced 128 people to death in 2025. From 2016 to 2025, Sessions Courts handed down 1,310 death sentences. The report reveals major mistakes at lower courts. High Courts confirmed only 8.31% of death sentences, acquitting 285 and commuting 411 sentences. None of the death sentences confirmed by High Courts have been upheld by the Supreme Court so far. Of 37 death penalty cases reviewed by the top court, 15 ended in acquittal and 14 in commuting the sentence. The report states, "Errors at Sessions Courts are not only leading to wrongful imposition of death sentence but are also resulting in wrongful convictions." It calls for a serious review of how Sessions Courts decide on death sentences. As of December 31, 2025, 574 prisoners were on death row in India, the highest since 2016. On average, prisoners spent more than five years on death row before acquittal, with some waiting nearly a decade. In 2025, 138 prisoners were removed from death row through acquittals, commutations, or remand orders. The report also exposes a serious issue: nearly 95% of death sentences in 2025 did not follow Supreme Court guidelines requiring psychological evaluations, prison conduct reports, and mitigation hearings. These requirements were made clear in landmark cases like Manoj vs State of Madhya Pradesh and Vasanta Sampat Dupare vs Union of India. Sentencing hearings often happened within days of conviction, limiting defence opportunities. An emerging trend is the use of life imprisonment without remission as an alternative to the death penalty. Courts see this as a middle path, but the report raises concerns over very long fixed sentences, sometimes up to 60 years, questioning their fairness and impact on rehabilitation.