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
- MAY 22, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Traffic police constable Chandrajeet Yadav was sentenced...
Traffic police constable Chandrajeet Yadav was sentenced to death by Sessions judge JN Paliwal for killing five members of his family, including wife Vidya Devi and four daughters
- APRIL 30, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A court sentenced a priest, Shushil Murmu, to death...
A court sentenced a priest, Shushil Murmu, to death for sacrificing a nine-year-old child to appease a deity in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand
- APRIL 28, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Karan Singh, Kunwar Bahadur Singh and their accomplice,...
Karan Singh, Kunwar Bahadur Singh and their accomplice, 16 year old Phool Singh were sentenced to death in India after being convicted of killing five members of the same family with an axe on April 24, 1999
- APRIL 27, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
In its consultation paper on the execution of the death...
In its consultation paper on the execution of the death penalty for prisoners, the Law Commission of India said that causing death by lethal injection was simple to execute
- APRIL 24, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India abstained from the resolution on the death penalty...
India abstained from the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva
- MARCH 25, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Sikh body Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee...
The Sikh body Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) called upon the Federal government to abolish the death penalty saying it would raise India's image in the eyes of the world
- MARCH 25, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Chris Pond, MP for Gravesham, threw his support behind...
Chris Pond, MP for Gravesham, threw his support behind the Sikh community by writing to Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam urging him to take Davinder Pal Singh Bhuller off death row
- MARCH 11, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Indian national Arun Abraham, sentenced to death by...
Indian national Arun Abraham, sentenced to death by Qatar's Sharia court for killing his Indian colleague, was executed by firing squad in Doha's central prison
- MARCH 4, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International said that if Portugal extradited...
Amnesty International said that if Portugal extradited Indian gangster Abu Salem, who is accused of masterminding bombings in Bombay that killed nearly 300 people, it would violate the Portuguese constitution
- FEBRUARY 26, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Eight Indian Muslims, including four who had been sentenced...
Eight Indian Muslims, including four who had been sentenced to death, were acquitted over the 1997 killing of a policeman that had led to deadly communal riots in southern India
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Dharam Deva Yadav, an Indian national, was sentenced...
Dharam Deva Yadav, an Indian national, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of murdering New Zealand backpacker Diana Routley, 24, in August, 1997
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
New Zealand Justice Minister Phil Goff said that the...
New Zealand Justice Minister Phil Goff said that the Government does not support the death penalty but that it is for India's justice system to decide what sentence to pass on Diana Routley's killer