India

INDIA: SUPREME COURT SETS ASIDE DEATH PENALTY IN 1996 SAMLETI BUS BLAST CASE, ORDERS FRESH TRIAL

INDIA: GUJARAT HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR 38 ACCUSED AND LIFE TERM FOR 11 PERSONS IN 2008 AHMEDABAD SERIAL BLAST CASE

INDIA: SUPREME COURT STAYS THREE DEATH SENTENCES, ORDERS FULL MITIGATION INQUIRY

A three-judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court on 13 April 2026, stayed a death sentence awarded to three convicts in a case from Dakshina Kannada.

INDIA: DEATH PENALTY FOR NINE POLICE OFFICERS WHO TORTURED TWO CHRISTIAN DALITS TO DEATH

In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, nine police officers were sentenced to death on April 6, 2026 for the in-custody deaths of P. Jeyaraj and his son J. Benniks, two Dalit Christians.

INDIA: HC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY IN LUDHIANA RAPE-MURDER CASE

The Punjab and Haryana High Court commuted the death sentence of a 28-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering a 4-year-7-month-old child in Ludhiana, the Tribune reported on March 20, 2026.

INDIA: UP COUPLE GETS DEATH FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING 33 CHILDREN

A couple was sentenced to death on February 20, 2026 by a court in Uttar Pradesh after being convicted in a case of sexual assault of 33 children, some of them as young as three years old.

INDIA: 3 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR GANG RAPE OF ISRAELI TOURIST, MURDER NEAR HAMPI

A sessions court in Karnataka's Koppal district on February 16, 2026 sentenced three men to death after convicting them in the gang rape of two women, including an Israeli national, and the killing of a male tourist.

INDIA: NO DEATH SENTENCES CONFIRMED BY SUPREME COURT FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR

The Supreme Court of India has not confirmed a single death penalty in the last three years, according to an annual statistics report on death penalties in India published on February 4, 2026 by The Square Circle Clinic

INDIA: PATNA HIGH COURT INVOKES 'MAHABHARAT' TO CONFIRM DEATH SENTENCE IN TRIPLE MURDER CASE

The Patna High Court recently upheld the conviction and death sentence awarded to two accused persons for the murder of three people in connection with a land dispute, Live Law reported on January 26, 2026.

INDIA: GUJARAT COURT DELIVERS DEATH PENALTY WITHIN 40 DAYS IN CHILD RAPE CASE

A Rajkot special court on January 17, 2026 delivered a rarest-of-rare judgment with unprecedented speed, sentencing 30-year-old Remsinh Dudwa to death for the sexual assault of a minor girl in Atkot’s Kanpar village.

INDIA: WOMAN AMONG FIVE AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR KURUKSHETRA DOCTOR’S MURDER

Two years after a doctor was killed in Haryana by robbers who had barged into her Kurukshetra residence, the court of additional district and sessions judge on December 20, 2025 sentenced four men and a woman to death in the case.

INDIA: 42-YEAR-OLD MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE, MURDER OF SIX-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN VALSAD

A court in Vapi town of Valsad, in the State of Gujarat, on December 4, 2025 sentenced 42-year-old man to death for the brutal rape, sodomy, and murder of a six-year-old girl.

INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING PREGNANT WOMAN IN KERALA'S ALAPPUZHA

A court in Alappuzha on September 24, 2025 sentenced a man to death for murdering a pregnant woman at Kainakary in the district.

INDIA: NITHARI KILLINGS ACCUSED TO WALK FREE AS SUPREME COURT ACQUITS HIM IN LAST CASE

The Supreme Court on November 11, 2025 set aside the conviction and life sentence of Surendra Koli in the last remaining murder case related to the infamous 2005-2006 Nithari killings in Noida, which drew widespread media attention and was the subject of

INDIA: ANDHRA COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO 5 IN 2015 MURDER OF CHITTOOR MAYOR, HER HUSBAND

Five persons accused of murdering Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Mohan were sentenced to death by a sessions court in Andhra Pradesh on October 31, 2025.

INDIA: KERALA HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE AWARDED IN KOLIYOOR RAPE AND MURDER CASE

Kerala High Court has commuted the death sentence awarded to Anil Kumar, alias Kolusu Binu, of Vembayam in Thiruvananthapuram, the first accused in the 2016 Koliyoor murder case.

INDIA: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MINOR GIRL’S GANGRAPE AND MURDER

The Court of Special Judge (POCSO Act), Agra, on October 16, 2025, awarded death sentence to two accused for the kidnapping, gangrape and murder of a five-and-a-half-year-old minor girl last year.

INDIA: MADRAS HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE, SAYS ACCUSED NOT MENACE TO SOCIETY

Madras high court on October 11, 2025 commuted the death sentence awarded to a man to life imprisonment in a case where he murdered his cousin because she refused to give him money to settle his debts, in 2021.

INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SODOMY, MURDER OF 8- YR-OLD

Ghazipur district's Special Court (Pocso) Judge Ramavatar Prasad on October 7, 2025 sentenced accused Sanjay Nat to death for sodomising and murdering an eight-year-old in Feb last year.

INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF HIS SEVEN-YEAR-OLD NIECE IN UP'S SITAPUR

A court in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur on September 18, 2025 awarded the death penalty to a 38-year-old man for the rape and murder of his seven-year-old niece, a government lawyer said on September 19, adding that the court also imposed a fine of Rs 13,000 o

INDIA: HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF FAKE HEALER TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT

Calcutta High Court on September 18, 2025 commuted the death sentence of a 45-year-old man - convicted of murdering a woman and her daughter - to a life sentence, but directed no remission for 40 years.

INDIA: MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT, MURDER OF MINOR GIRL IN KARNATAKA

An additional district and sessions court-cum-fast track court in Mangaluru on September 10, 2025 convicted and sentenced a 51-year-old man to death after finding him guilty of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl in Mangaluru.

INDIA: HC REDUCES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE, JUNKS RAPE CHARGE

The Calcutta High Court on September 1st, 2025, commuted the death penalty of a 42-year-old man convicted of the murder of a six-year-old at Uttarpara to life imprisonment

INDIA: 3 GET DEATH FOR KILLING RICKSHAW PULLER OVER WIFE’S ILLICIT AFFAIR; 2 GET LIFE, WOMAN ACQUITTED

A Dehradun court on August 22, 2025 awarded the death penalty to three men for murdering a rickshaw puller in Nov 2022 by forcing him to drink alcohol and smashing his head with a stone.

INDIA: UP MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE, MURDER OF 8-YEAR-OLD DALIT GIRL

A special SC/ST court in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) on September 2, 2025 awarded the death penalty to a 50-year-old man for abducting, raping and murdering an eight-year-old Dalit girl in 2020, calling it a "rarest of rare case for its brutality".

INDIA: DEATH PENALTY FOR MAN WHO BURNT ALIVE WIFE OVER SKIN COLOUR

A court in India on August 30, 2025 gave the death penalty to a man for burning alive his wife over her skin colour.

INDIA: ASSAM MAN, WHO KILLED WOMAN FOR REFUSING TO MARRY HIM, SENTENCED TO DEATH

A court in Assam's Dhemaji on August 21, 2025 sentenced a man to death for the brutal murder of a college student in 2021.

INDIA: SUPREME COURT COMMUTES RAPIST'S DEATH PENALTY TO LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT REMISSION

The Supreme Court of India on July 16, 2025 commuted a man's death penalty in a minor's rape and murder case to life in prison without remission.