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
- AUGUST 19, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HANGING OF MAN WHO RAPED, KILLED DAUGHTER STAYED
Justices DK Jain and 19/08 HL Dattu of the Indian Supreme Court stayed the execution of a man convicted of raping and killing his four-year-old daughter on June 28, 2007
- AUGUST 18, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: AWARDING DEATH PENALTY TO BE MADE TOUGHER: SC
the Supreme Court said judges, while awarding death penalty in mechanical consonance with the 1980 ‘Bachan Singh’ judgment, appear to have lost sight of vital ingredients – “the lesser alternative (life imprisonment) is unquestionably foreclosed” and “obj
- AUGUST 15, 2009Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR BYNDOOR YOUTH
Abdul Majeed, 27, of Navunda, near Byndoor in India, was awarded capital punishment by a Saudi Arabian court for transporting narcotic drugs.
- AUGUST 12, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: ON DEATH ROW SINCE 1991, HE WAITS FOR HANGMAN
Piara Singh, 80, cannot walk or see and his dementia gets worse by the day. Piara, a murder convict sentenced to death in 1996, has been languishing in Amritsar jail since 1991, mostly in solitary confinement, with neither death nor mercy rescuing him fro
- AUGUST 6, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN GIVEN DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING MINOR NEPHEWS
a bench of the Delhi High Court in India comprising Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Indermeet Kaur upheld...
AUGUST 6, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH
three people, including a woman, were sentenced to death for their involvement in two
- JULY 30, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: COURT AWARDS DEATH SENTENCE TO MAN FOR MURDERING NEIGHBOUR
a court in Allahabad, India, awarded the death sentence to Sanjay, a resident of Uttaraon police station area in the district’s trans- Ganga region, for hacking to death his neighbour Kullu on May 13, 2005.
- JULY 29, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HOOCH: BILL ON DEATH PENALTY CLEARED
following the Ahmedabad hooch tragedy, the Gujarat Assembly passed a Bill proposing stringent punishment, up to death penalty, to deal with the illicit liquor trade.
- JULY 29, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH PENALTY ADDED TO K'TAKA TERROR LAW
the state legislature in Bangalore, India, approved a slew of amendments to the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA), allowing for the death sentence for terrorism.
- JULY 26, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC SETS DEADLINE FOR DISPOSING OF EXECUTION APPLICATIONS
a single bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court in India set December 24, 2009, as the deadline for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to dispose of the execution applications pending for five years or more.
- JULY 24, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: EXECUTION OF DELHI GIRL MURDER CONVICT STAYED
the execution in India of the son of a Delhi Police sub inspector, who was sentenced to death for murdering his girl friend...
- JULY 22, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: SARABJIT SINGH FILES FRESH APPLICATION IN SUPREME COURT
a fresh application has been filed before the Pakistan Supreme Court seeking review of its decision to dismiss the Indian death row inmate Sarabjit Singh's petition challenging his death penalty.