India
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal parliamentary republic
- CONSTITUTION
- January 26, 1950; amended several times
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on English common law; partial review of legislative acts by the judiciary
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral, Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and People's Assembly (Lok Sabha)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Court, judges appointed by the President and serve until 65 years of age
RELIGIONS
80% Hindu; 11% Muslims; 2% Christians; 2% Sikhs; Buddhist minorities and others
From the country
FEBRUARY 23, 2026IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: UP COUPLE GETS DEATH FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING 33 CHILDREN
A couple was sentenced to death on February 20, 2026 by a court in Uttar Pradesh after being convicted in a case of sexual assault of 33 children, some of them as young as three years old.
FEBRUARY 16, 2026IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 3 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR GANG RAPE OF ISRAELI TOURIST, MURDER NEAR HAMPI
A sessions court in Karnataka's Koppal district on February 16, 2026 sentenced three men to death after convicting them in the gang rape of two women, including an Israeli national, and the killing of a male tourist.
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: NO DEATH SENTENCES CONFIRMED BY SUPREME COURT FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR
The Supreme Court of India has not confirmed a single death penalty in the last three years, according to an annual statistics report on death penalties in India published on February 4, 2026 by The Square Circle Clinic
- JANUARY 27, 2026IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: PATNA HIGH COURT INVOKES 'MAHABHARAT' TO CONFIRM DEATH SENTENCE IN TRIPLE MURDER CASE
The Patna High Court recently upheld the conviction and death sentence awarded to two accused persons for the murder of three people in connection with a land dispute, Live Law reported on January 26, 2026.
JANUARY 19, 2026IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: GUJARAT COURT DELIVERS DEATH PENALTY WITHIN 40 DAYS IN CHILD RAPE CASE
A Rajkot special court on January 17, 2026 delivered a rarest-of-rare judgment with unprecedented speed, sentencing 30-year-old Remsinh Dudwa to death for the sexual assault of a minor girl in Atkot’s Kanpar village.
JANUARY 12, 2026IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR ABHI VERMA KIDNAPPING-MURDER CONVICTS
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has commuted to life imprisonment the death penalty of two men convicted for kidnapping and murdering a minor boy for ransom in 2005
- DECEMBER 22, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN WHO BEHEADED BROTHER COMMUTED TO 20-YEAR JAIL TERM
Making it clear that not every brutal murder warrants capital punishment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 22, 2025 commuted the death sentence of Ashok Kumar
DECEMBER 20, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: WOMAN AMONG FIVE AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR KURUKSHETRA DOCTOR’S MURDER
Two years after a doctor was killed in Haryana by robbers who had barged into her Kurukshetra residence, the court of additional district and sessions judge on December 20, 2025 sentenced four men and a woman to death in the case.
- DECEMBER 10, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 42-YEAR-OLD MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE, MURDER OF SIX-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN VALSAD
A court in Vapi town of Valsad, in the State of Gujarat, on December 4, 2025 sentenced 42-year-old man to death for the brutal rape, sodomy, and murder of a six-year-old girl.
NOVEMBER 26, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING PREGNANT WOMAN IN KERALA'S ALAPPUZHA
A court in Alappuzha on September 24, 2025 sentenced a man to death for murdering a pregnant woman at Kainakary in the district.
NOVEMBER 12, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: NITHARI KILLINGS ACCUSED TO WALK FREE AS SUPREME COURT ACQUITS HIM IN LAST CASE
The Supreme Court on November 11, 2025 set aside the conviction and life sentence of Surendra Koli in the last remaining murder case related to the infamous 2005-2006 Nithari killings in Noida, which drew widespread media attention and was the subject of
- NOVEMBER 2, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: ANDHRA COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO 5 IN 2015 MURDER OF CHITTOOR MAYOR, HER HUSBAND
Five persons accused of murdering Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Mohan were sentenced to death by a sessions court in Andhra Pradesh on October 31, 2025.