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
JULY 10, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: FORMER PRESIDENT A P J ABDUL KALAM FAVOURS ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY
Former president A P J Abdul Kalam has supported abolition of the death penalty, saying that as President
JUNE 18, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN AWARDED CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR RAPING EIGHT-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A lower court in Ashta Tehsil near Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, awarded capital punishment to a man for raping a minor eight-year-old girl.
- MAY 28, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA CONVICTS CAN'T BE HANGED SECRETLY AND HURRIEDLY, SAYS SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court has said that execution of death row convicts cannot be carried out in an arbitrary, hurried
APRIL 21, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HC COMMUTES DHARAMPAL'S DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE TERM
Giving benefit of prolonged delay in deciding on his mercy petition by the President, the Punjab and Haryana high court commuted the death sentence of Dharampal, a rape convict from Sonipat who later murdered five members of the rape survivor's family whi
APRIL 14, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE TERM
Gujarat high court has commuted the death sentence of a convict to life imprisonment in a case of kidnapping and murder of a 9-year-old in Navsari.
APRIL 4, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH IN MUMBAI RAPE CASE
An Indian court has sentenced three men to death for the rape of a photojournalist inside an abandoned textile mill in the financial hub of Mumbai last year.
MARCH 30, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: FOUR SUSPECTED MAOISTS GET DEATH SENTENCE IN MURDER CASE
A court in Bihar's Sheohar district awarded death sentence to four suspected Maoists convicted in the murder of five people in an attack at a village in Bihar's Sheohar district five years ago.
MARCH 26, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: PRESIDENT PRANAB MUKHERJEE COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF A CONVICT TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT
after rejecting mercy petitions of 22 convicts on death row, President Pranab Mukherjee commuted the death sentence of a convict to life imprisonment.
FEBRUARY 16, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: BOMBAY HIGH COURT CONFIRMS DEATH FOR 'REMORSELESS' MAN WHO RAPED, KILLED SCHOOLGIRL
The Bombay high court upheld the death sentence of a 25-year-old man who raped a 13-year-old
JANUARY 27, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MUMBAI HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF SOLAPUR MAN WHO KILLED SON AND NIECE
The Mumbai high court commuted the death sentence of a Solapur man who had killed his three-year-old
- JANUARY 21, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: ENGINEER SENTENCED TO DEATH
In India, a Poonamallee court sentenced a 26-year-old aeronautical engineer to death for the murder and
JANUARY 15, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: ODISHA COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH FOR TWIN MURDER
A District and Sessions Judge court in Odisha’s Jajpur district handed out the death sentence to a man