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
- MARCH 29, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Six eminent Tamil writers appealed to the President...
Six eminent Tamil writers appealed to the President and Tamil Nadu Governor to grant clemency to death row convict [identified only as] Govindasamy who was still awaiting execution in a Coimbatore jail sixteen years after having committed a crime
- MARCH 28, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A division bench of the Kerala High court meted out...
A division bench of the Kerala High court meted out the death sentence to "Ripper Chacko", 54, for the gruesome murder of a five-member family, including three children, in the Idukki district in August 1988
- MARCH 28, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Subash Singh Thakur, kingpin of a breakaway faction...
Subash Singh Thakur, kingpin of a breakaway faction of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, was given the death sentence for organising a deadly shoot-out in the JJ hospital seven years previously
- MARCH 3, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Former Pakistani Parliamentarian and senior Congress...
Former Pakistani Parliamentarian and senior Congress leader, Ghulam Rasool Kar strongly condemned the excesses of Indian forces in occupied Kashmir and demanded a probe into the Indian brutalities
- FEBRUARY 26, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India's law minister, Ram Jethmalani strongly favoured...
India's law minister, Ram Jethmalani strongly favoured abolition of capital punishment saying the useless exercise has failed to eradicate crime or act as deterrent
- JANUARY 31, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (TRC) staged demonstrations...
Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (TRC) staged demonstrations in Tamil Nadu, demanding the capital punishment awarded to four accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case be carried out at the earliest opportunity
- JANUARY 26, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Madras High Court upheld the President's order...
The Madras High Court upheld the President's order rejecting the mercy petition of Govindasamy, who had been sentenced to death for murdering five persons in 1984, holding that there had been no inordinate delay in the disposal of his clemency plea
- JANUARY 24, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The United Communist Party of India (UCPI) demanded...
The United Communist Party of India (UCPI) demanded execution "without any change" of the Supreme Court order sentencing to death the four accused in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case
- JANUARY 20, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The District and Sessions Court in Assam handed out...
The District and Sessions Court in Assam handed out the death sentence to Dhaneswar Haloi for a double murder
- JANUARY 5, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court of India commuted to life imprisonment...
The Supreme Court of India commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded to Kishori, the infamous "butcher of Trilokpuri" for killing several people during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots
- JANUARY 3, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the federal...
India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the federal government should amend the laws dealing with terrorism to give "severe punishment", including capital punishment, to those involved in terrorist activities