India
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The Indian legislative system also provides for different...
- News items in the archive
- 1,863
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
India is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 1,863 news items on India, from 1999 to today.
In India the death penalty applies to murder, terrorism and certain serious sexual offences, and the method is hanging. Case law restricts it to the cases it calls the rarest of the rare: many sentences are handed down, few executions are actually carried out, and a significant share of sentences is overturned or commuted on appeal.
The archive follows sentences, commutations, executions and legislative debates.
Latest news
DECEMBER 12, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: TRIO GETS DEATH FOR 2012 TRIPLE MURDER
Three persons including a most-wanted accused in at least 24 cases - including 16 murders - were
DECEMBER 1, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAHATMA GANDHI’S GRANDSON CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, said capital punishment should be removed from the country’s statutes.
- NOVEMBER 18, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: ANOTHER ACCUSED GETS CAPITAL SENTENCE IN SENARI MASSACRE CASE
A court awarded death sentence to one more accused person in a case related to massacre of 34 people by
NOVEMBER 15, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 10 AWARDED DEATH PENALTY IN THE CASE OF SENARI MASSACRE
A court in the Indian state of Bihar awarded death penalty to 10 and sentenced three to life imprisonment in
- NOVEMBER 4, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE, FOUR DAUGHTERS
A man was sentenced to death by a local court in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh for killing his wife and
- OCTOBER 7, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 5 OF FAMILY AWARDED DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING 4 PERSONS
A man and his four sons were awarded capital punishment by a court in Pali district of Rajasthan for killing
SEPTEMBER 19, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SUPREME COURT MOVES AWAY FROM DEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court has moved away from death penalty (capital punishment) after it commuted the death
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: ANKUR PANWAR SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PREETI RATHI ACID ATTACK AND MURDER CASE
A special women's court sentenced a 25-year-old man to death for murdering a Delhi resident by hurling acid at Bandra Terminus in 2013.
JULY 6, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: COURT CONFIRMS DEATH PENALTY FOR FOUR IN TRIPLE MURDER
The High Court of Karnataka in Kalaburagi confirmed capital punishment imposed on four accused in a triple murder case by the District and Sessions Court of Yadgir.
- JUNE 24, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: PRESIDENT REJECTS TWO DEATH-SENTENCE PLEAS FROM CONVICTS
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has reportedly rejected mercy pleas from two death-row convicts,
- JUNE 10, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
The sessions court in Shajapur awarded capital punishment to four persons, including three brothers, for
- MAY 17, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 2 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN JET SANTHOSH MURDER CASE
Two convicts in the Jet Santhosh murder case were sentenced to death by the additional sessions court in
- MAY 17, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 7 VILLAGERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING 3 WOMEN SUSPECTING THEM AS WITCHES
Eight people including two women were held guilty on charges of lynching three women at Daspur in October 2012.
APRIL 19, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: EIGHT SENTENCED TO DEATH IN WEST BENGAL FOR MURDER OF COLLEGE STUDENT
As many as eight people were sentenced to death in West Bengal for the murder of college student Saurabh Chowdhury in 2014.
APRIL 12, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: COURT AWARDS DEATH SENTENCE TO MAN IN RAPE AND MURDER CASE
A 47-year old man was awarded death sentence in Jharkhand State by a Giridih court for raping and
- APRIL 9, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On 9 April 2016, for the first time a court in Bengal awarded death sentence under the Narcotic Drugs and
On 9 April 2016, for the first time a court in Bengal awarded death sentence under the Narcotic Drugs and
- MARCH 30, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR TWO MURDERS IN TAMIL NADU
A court in Tamil Nadu awarded the death sentence to a man for murdering two women over a land dispute in Anamalai in the district four years ago.
MARCH 11, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF 3 CONVICTS IN DHARMAPURI BUS BURNING CASE
The Supreme Court of India commuted the death penalty of three convicts into life imprisonments, who
- MARCH 8, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 1,398 PEOPLE AWARDED CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DURING 2004-14
As many as 1,398 people were awarded capital punishment and three were executed in the country during
- FEBRUARY 27, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: NINE CULPRITS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN 13-YEAR-OLD CHITRAKOOT MASSACRE
The local court of Chitrakoot sentenced 9 people to death in 13-year-old massacre. Two of the accused
- FEBRUARY 4, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE TO 11 FOR KILLING WOMAN TO GRAB LAND IN NADIA
Eleven people including a former Trinamool Congress leader were awarded death sentence by Nadia
JANUARY 27, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF SERIAL KILLER, AWARDS LIFE TERM
The Delhi High Court commuted to life capital punishment awarded to serial killer Chandrakant Jha in two
- JANUARY 18, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: APEX COURT STAYS EXECUTION OF TWO DEATH ROW PRISONERS
The Supreme Court of India stayed the execution of two condemned prisoners who were awarded death
- JANUARY 12, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR WOMAN, 3 OTHERS FOR MURDERING 6 OF FAMILY
A court in Uttar Pradesh awarded death sentence to four persons, including a woman, accused of
- JANUARY 1, 2016IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code and by Art. 21 of the Constitution
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code and by Art. 21 of the Constitution
- NOVEMBER 23, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTY
ODISHA (INDIA): FIVE GET DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF MINOR
A local court in Odisha’s Keonjhar district pronounced death sentence to five accused in the rape and
SEPTEMBER 30, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: FIVE MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2006 MUMBAI TRAIN BLASTS
A Mumbai court has awarded capital punishment to five convicts in 2006 Mumbai local train serial blasts in
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MINOR RAPE AND MURDER
The additional sessions judge of Kamalpur, in Tripura's Dhalai district, sentenced two youngsters to death
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arkansas. India's largest drug seller, Sun Pharma, has publicly dissociated itself from the use of its drugs in upcoming executions.
USA - Arkansas. India's largest drug seller, Sun Pharma, has publicly dissociated itself from the use of its drugs in upcoming executions.
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT TO MAN FOR MURDER OF MINOR
A 28-year-old man was sentenced to capital imprisonment in Madhya Pradesh state of central India on the charge of brutally killing a minor boy after sodomizing him.