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
- 1,856
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 1,856 news items on India, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
JULY 11, 2015IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MPS, LEADERS SEEK REPEAL OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Cutting across the party lines, the members of Parliament (MPs) and political leaders favoured the abolition
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
- JANUARY 1, 2015IndiaDEATH 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
- DECEMBER 20, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of a death row convict, Ajay Kumar Pal, to life
the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of a death row convict, Ajay Kumar Pal, to life
- DECEMBER 12, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED FOR MURDEROUS ACID ATTACK
The Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the capital punishment awarded to a man by the
- DECEMBER 2, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: CABINET GRANTS APPROVAL FOR ANTI-HIJACKING BILL 2014
A Bill seeking stringent punishment including death penalty for hijackers was approved by the Union
NOVEMBER 26, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SC AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO MAN FOR RAPING 4-YR-OLD GIRL, STONING HER TO DEATH
SC has awarded death sentence to a 47-year-old man from Maharashtra after finding him guilty of raping a
- NOVEMBER 19, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
SRI LANKA PARDONS INDIAN FISHERMEN ON DEATH ROW
Five Indian fishermen condemned to death for smuggling drugs into Sri Lanka will walk free after President
- NOVEMBER 4, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 56-YEAR-OLD'S DEATH PENALTY COMMUTED TO LIFE TERM FOR CHILD RAPE, MURDER
A 56-year-old man, facing gallows for raping and murdering a three-year-old girl, has been spared death
OCTOBER 30, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTYSRI LANKA: DEATH FOR FIVE INDIAN FISHERMEN
The Colombo High Court awarded the death sentence to five Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested by the Sri
- OCTOBER 16, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: WOMAN'S FATHER, UNCLE GET DEATH SENTENCE IN HONOUR KILLING CASE
In a 2012 case of honour killing, a court in Punjab awarded death sentence to the victim woman's father,
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2014MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: 'CURRY MURDER' CASE ENDS IN DEATH SENTENCE FOR COUSINS
A housewife and her cousin had their murder conviction upheld and were sentenced to death in Malaysia, in
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC CONFIRMS DEATH SENTENCE GIVEN TO 25-YR-OLD GIRL, TWO OTHERS
The Madhya Pradesh High Court confirmed the death sentence awarded to three people, including a 25-
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH WITHOUT THE RIGHT TO APPEAL
In its report, “India: Death Without the Right to Appeal”, Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) stated
SEPTEMBER 2, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: REVIEW PLEA OF DEATH ROW CONVICTS TO BE HEARD IN OPEN COURT BY THREE-JUDGE BENCH
The Supreme Court of India ruled that review petitions against verdicts upholding death sentences will now
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: PRESIDENT MUKHERJEE REJECTED 97% OF MERCY PETITIONS, BUT HE FAILED TO CURB CRIME
President Pranab Mukherjee of India has rejected 97% of the mercy petitions in his two-year tenure, as of
- AUGUST 14, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: TWO SISTERS MAY BECOME FIRST EVER WOMEN TO BE HANGED IN THE COUNTRY
the Mumbai Mirror said two sisters from Kolhapur in Maharashtra State, who were sentenced to death in 2001 for kidnapping 13 children and killing nine of them, are likely to become the first ever women in India to be hanged after President Pranab Mukherje
- JULY 24, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ACID ATTACK IN MADHYA PRADESH
In a landmark decision, a court in Madhya Pradesh sentenced a man to death for hurling acid on a 28-year-
- JULY 18, 2014IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: PRESIDENT REJECTS MERCY PLEAS OF SIX DEATH ROW CONVICTS
President Pranab Mukherjee of India rejected the mercy petitions of Nithari serial killer Surinder Koli and