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
- OCTOBER 11, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SUPREME COURT CLIPS PRESIDENT’S POWERS OF PARDON
India’s Supreme Court clipped the president’s power to pardon convicts on death row.
- OCTOBER 4, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. HANGING OF INDIAN MILITANT DEFERRED AFTER MERCY PETITION
the wife of Mohammed Afzal, who has been slapped with a death sentence for a terror attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001, has filed a mercy petition before President APJ Abdul Kalam, news reports said.
- OCTOBER 3, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. TWO HANGINGS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 16, JAIL AUTHORITIES APPEAL
Jaj Singh and Gurwail Singh, both residents of Bhitewad village near Amritsar, India, were scheduled to hang for murder in Amritsar’s high-security Central Jail on October 16.
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR CHILD ABUSE AND MURDER
R. Senthil, 27, accused of sexually exploiting two children, both brothers, and killing one of them, was sentenced to death by a District Principal and Sessions Court in India.
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. DEATH PENALTY TO THREE MEMBERS OF KALBAILAIYA GANG
a court in India sentenced to death three members of the ‘Kalbailaiya’ gang for murder.
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. COURT SETS DATE FOR PARLIAMENT ATTACK HANGING
an Indian court fixed October 20 as the date for executing Mohammed Afzal, a Muslim man convicted for his role in the 2001 militant attack on India's parliament.
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MINOR’S RAPE AND MURDER IN BIHAR
a fast track court in Bihar, India, sentenced Munilal Sharma to death for raping and killing the four-year-old niece of his neighbour Dilip Kumar Sharma on April 29, 2004.
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIAN SPARED DEATH SENTENCE IN SINGAPORE
an Indian taxi driver facing trial for murdering his wife was spared the death sentence by a court in Singapore. G. Krishnasamy Naidu, who was earlier handed the death sentence for murdering his wife Chitrabathy Narayanasamy, now faced either 10 years in
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. KERALA HIGH COURT CONFIRMS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER
the Kerala High Court, India, confirmed the death sentence of a man accused in the murder of a six-member family in Aluva on January 6, 2001.
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. 3 MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the sessions court of Palghar in the Indian state of Maharashtra, sentenced three people to death for four murders committed over an inter-community marriage at Vasai in 2004.
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. HIGH COURT OVERTURNS DEATH SENTENCES HANDED DOWN TO MONKS FOR MURDER
the Gujarat High Court, India, commuted the death sentences handed down to four swami’s into life imprisonment and acquitted a fifth defendant in the case.
- AUGUST 31, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY ON SISTERS FOR CHILD MURDER
India's Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for two sisters convicted of kidnapping 13 children to join a gang of thieves and murdering at least five of them.