The modern debate over capital punishment took shape in Andhra Pradesh, following the execution of Naxalite prisoners K Bhoomaiah and Kishta Goud during the early months of the Emergency in the mid-1970s.
Published Nov 30, 2025 | 9:19 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 30, 2025 | 9:19 PM
Amnesty International first raised the issue of capital punishment with the Indian government through an appeal dated 22 November 1974.
Synopsis: The decades long campaign has its roots in the broader struggle for civil liberties. It brought together people from different walks of life and political persuasions, united by a clear belief in abolition.
The Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty in India marks 50 years on 1 December 2025.
The modern debate over capital punishment took shape in Andhra Pradesh, following the execution of Naxalite prisoners K Bhoomaiah and Kishta Goud during the early months of the Emergency in the mid-1970s.
Amnesty International’s then Secretary-General Martin Ennals raised the issue of capital punishment with the Indian government for the first time in this case, through an appeal dated 22 November 1974.
On 5 December 1975, just four days after Bhoomaiah and Kishta Goud were executed, Amnesty International “cabled its deep concern at the hanging” (see Amnesty International Annual Reports 1973–74).
The campaign has its roots in the broader struggle for civil liberties. It brought together people from different walks of life and political persuasions, united by a clear belief in abolition.
American journalist Lawrence Lifschultz, film personalities KA Abbas, Mrinal Sen and Utpal Dutt, and political leaders Bhupesh Gupta, Chandra Rajeshwar Rao, P Sundarayya, Mohit Sen and George Fernandes were among those outside Andhra Pradesh who led efforts to commute the death sentences awarded to Bhoomaiah and Kishta Goud.
Advocates KG Kannabiran and Pattipati Venkateswara Rao represented the two men in Andhra Pradesh. Justices Chinnappa Reddy and Gangadhar Reddy granted stays on more than one occasion.
After the first stay secured by Pattipati Venkateswarlu on 25 November 1974, the movement for the abolition of the death penalty gathered momentum rapidly. Meetings and conferences were held across the state.
Political parties, trade unions and student organisations joined the call for abolition. The execution was repeatedly deferred, held back by the sheer force of this campaign.
After June 1975, KG Kannabiran took over the case, as Pattipati Venkateswarlu was arrested on the night the Emergency was declared.
Advocate RK Garg represented the matter in the Supreme Court, arguing for commutation. Justices VR Krishna Iyer and AC Gupta heard the case and ultimately confirmed the death sentence.
They were executed on 1 December 1975.
Senior scholar Sumanta Banerjee was among the last people to see them in jail. He had been placed in a neighbouring solitary cell, awaiting transfer to West Bengal, as no other cells were available.
In a personal conversation with this author, he recalled exchanging beedis and “Lal Salaams” with them during their walks, when they passed each other’s cells.
There have been many twists and turns in the campaign, and mobilisations that would today be branded “anti-national”. But we must recall, remember and cherish a past that can serve as a wayfinder in the troubled future ahead.
What better way to close than with the poetry of Sivasagar (KG Satyamurthy), for few have voiced a more eloquent call for abolition:
The gallows trembled
This night
the scaffold trembled violently
Hearing the progress report of mankind
spoken proudly by the hanging head
This night
the gallows trembled in fear
Seeing the soft unbroken smile
on the lips of the hanging headThis night
the hanging head
hanged the noose(Written in 1975, immediately after the execution; translated from Telugu by Vasanth Kannabiran, who, along with KG Kannabiran and others, kept vigil on the pavement outside Mushirabad Jail, Secunderabad, on the night of 30 November–1 December 1975.)
The death penalty must be abolished. Fifty years is too long.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
