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
DECEMBER 31, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 102 DEATH SENTENCES IN 2019
Trial courts in India delivered 102 death sentences in 2019, over 60% fewer than the 162 death sentences passed in 2018.
DECEMBER 10, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HC CONFIRMS DEATH PENALTY FOR FIVE FROM AHMEDNAGAR FOR KILLING THREE DALIT MEN
The Bombay High Court on 2 December 2019 confirmed the death penalty for five upper caste men convicted of the murder of three Dalit men in Sonai village, Ahmednagar, in 2013 because one of them fell in love with a girl from the upper caste family.
- DECEMBER 6, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC STAYS EXECUTION OF DEATH PENALTY OF CONVICT IN RAJASTHAN BOMB BLAST CASE
The Supreme Court on 2 December 2019 stayed the execution of death penalty awarded to a convict in the 23-year-old case of bomb blast in a bus at Samleti in Dausa district, in which 14 persons were killed.
NOVEMBER 14, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: GOVT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF BEANT SINGH KILLER TO LIFE
The Union Home Ministry on 12 November 2019 commuted the death sentence of Babbar Khalsa terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana who was sentenced to death in 2007 for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
NOVEMBER 13, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: FOUR GET DEATH PENALTY FOR 2008 RAMPUR ATTACK
Four persons, including two Pakistani nationals were sentenced to death in the Rampur ‘terror’ attack case by Additional District and Sessions Judge Sanjay Kumar Singh on 2nd November 2019.
NOVEMBER 11, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: BOMBAY HC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF TWO YOUNG MEN IN BHANDARA ROBBERY AND MURDER CASE
The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on 5 November 2019 commuted death penalty awarded to two young men convicted for robbery and murder of a woman and for injuring her minor son.
- NOVEMBER 8, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC RECONFIRMS DEATH PENALTY FOR CONVICT
The Supreme Court on 7 November 2019 rejected a plea by one Manoharan — a convict in a double murder case involving a 10-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother — seeking reconsideration of the top court verdict upholding his death sentence.
OCTOBER 31, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HC UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPIST & KILLER OF MINOR
The High Court of Uttarakhand has upheld the death penalty sentence awarded by a lower court to Akhtar Ali who was convicted of raping and murdering a minor at Kathgodam in 2014, the Daily Pioneer reported on 19 October 2019.
OCTOBER 25, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: COURT AWARDS DEATH SENTENCE TO CYANIDE MOHAN
Serial killer Cyanide Mohan, 56, on 24 October 2019 was awarded death sentence for the murder of an anganwadi assistant from Dakshina Kannada in Bengaluru.
OCTOBER 23, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: BOMBAY HC CONFIRMS DEATH SENTENCE TO TRIO WHO RAPED, KILLED TEEN
The Bombay high court (HC) on 17 October 2019 confirmed death penalty for three men from Ahmednagar district who had raped a 16-year-old girl multiple times and tortured her to death in 2014.
- OCTOBER 16, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC ADMITS MISTAKE IN AWARDING DEATH SENTENCE, COMMUTES IT TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT
More than eight years after awarding death penalty to a man for killing his wife and four kids including 10-month-old baby in Nanded district in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court has now found fault in its verdict for coming to the conclusion about the sever
OCTOBER 11, 2019IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: PRESIDENT COMMUTES 20 DEATH SENTENCES IN NINE YEARS
President Ram Nath Kovind commuted death sentences to life imprisonment in at least 20 cases over the past nine years, based on the recommendations received from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), The Hindu reported on 4 October 2019.