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 23, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HIGH COURT ACQUITS 12 MEN IN MUMBAI TRAIN BOMBINGS THAT KILLED 187
A court in India has acquitted 12 men who had been convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed 187 people and injured more than 800.
JULY 17, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SC ACQUITS MAN ON DEATH ROW, ISSUES NATIONWIDE GUIDELINES ON DNA EVIDENCE HANDLING
The Supreme Court of India on July 15, 2025 acquitted a man on death row in a murder case, outlining the gaps in forensic evidence and issued countrywide directions on handling of DNA samples.
JULY 7, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING SIX MEMBERS OF A FAMILY
The IV additional district and sessions court in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) on June 27, 2025 sentenced 50-year-old Battina Appalaraju to death for killing six members of a family, including two children, in a revenge killing in April 2021.
JUNE 25, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF 11-YEAR OLD GIRL
A special Pocso court in Jalpaiguri sentenced 31-year old Haripada Roy to death for the rape and murder of an 11-year old girl, categorising it as a "rarest of rare" case, Times of India reported on June 11, 2025.
JUNE 12, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: KOLKATA HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF EX WHO STABBED GIRL 45 TIMES
Calcutta High Court on June 11, 2025 commuted the death penalty awarded to a 24-year-old, for stabbing his ex-girlfriend 45 times, to life imprisonment without remission for 40 years.
JUNE 4, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 2 MEN GET DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING MINOR SISTERS
A special SC/ST court in Hathras (Uttar Pradesh) has sentenced two men in their 30s to death for murdering two minor sisters in their sleep and attempting to kill their parents over a property dispute, Times of India reported on May 30, 2025.
JUNE 3, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 2 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF 8-YR-OLD GIRL
A special court in Madhubani (Bihar) on May 31, 2025 sentenced two men, Sushil Rai and Om Prakash Jha, to death for the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old dalit girl.
MAY 28, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE IN CHILD MURDER CASE
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of abducting and murdering his six-year-old nephew, instead sentencing him to life imprisonment until his last breath.
- MAY 20, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SUPREME COURT FREES MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN 2013 RAPE-MURDER CASE
The Supreme Court of India has acquitted a man accused of raping and murdering a child in 2013 in Maharashtra’s Thane, citing the probe agency’s “shabby investigation” and the “overzealous” approach of the court that sentenced him, First Post reported on
MAY 12, 2025IndonesiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: GET THEM LEGAL ASSISTANCE, SAYS HC ON 3 INDIANS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN INDONESIA
The Delhi high court on May 2, 2025 directed the Indian Consulate in Indonesia to take urgent steps to ensure proper legal representation and assistance for three Indian nationals sentenced to death by an Indonesian court.
MAY 6, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: GUJARAT COURT HANDS DOWN 'DOUBLE DEATH SENTENCE' TO MAN FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF 7-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A sessions court in Gujarat on April 25, 2025 sentenced a man, 30, to a double death penalty in the case of raping and strangulating a 7-year-old girl to death in October 2019 in a village in Anand.
- APRIL 24, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF KERALA MAN WHO KILLED WIFE, 4 CHILDREN IN 2008
Taking into consideration among others, his “consistent efforts at being a model prisoner”, the Supreme Court on April 22, 2025 commuted the death sentence of a Kerala man convicted for the murder of his wife and four children and raping his 12-year-old d
- APRIL 16, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: THREE GET CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR MURDERING FIVE IN SINDHANUR
The murder of five individuals of a family in Sindhanur town (Karnataka state) in July 2020 has ended with capital punishment for three accused in the case.
- APRIL 8, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: TELANGANA HC UPHOLDS FIVE DEATH SENTENCES IN DILSUKHNAGAR BLASTS CASE
The Telangana high court on April 8, 2025 upheld the death sentence awarded to five Indian Mujahideen operatives in the 2013 Dilsukhnagar blasts case, dismissing their appeal challenging the punishment.
- APRIL 3, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN, WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN 10-MONTH-OLD MURDER CASE IN UP’S MAINPURI
A local court in Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh) on March 18, 2025 sentenced two persons including a woman to death in connection with a 10-month-old murder case in Nanmai village under Karhal police station limits.
APRIL 1, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 564 PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW, HIGHEST SINCE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
According to the latest data published by Project 39A in its Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report, in 2024 sessions courts imposed 139 death sentences, higher than the yearly average since 2016.
- MARCH 26, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA CONFIRMS 25 NATIONALS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN UAE, EXECUTIONS PENDING
The number of Indian nationals facing the death penalty in the United Arab Emirates, with sentences yet to be implemented, stands at 25, the central government informed Parliament on March 20, 2025.
- MARCH 19, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: UTTAR PRADESH COURT GIVES DEATH PENALTY TO 3 MEN FOR KILLING 24 DALITS IN 1981
A Uttar Pradesh court on March 18, 2025 ordered death penalty to three men linked to the killings of 24 Dalits in Dehuli in 1981.
MARCH 13, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: DEATH PENALTY FOR ‘FORCED’ RELIGIOUS CONVERSION CRITICISED BY CHURCH
The Chief Minister of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has said his government would make a provision for the death penalty to punish what it describes as “forced” religious conversion of females, a move that has drawn consternation from the Church in I
MARCH 12, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH, 6 OTHERS LIFE TERM IN TELANGANA DALIT MAN’S ‘HONOUR KILLING’ IN 2018
A Telangana court on March 10, 2025 pronounced the sentence in the 2018 Miryalaguda honour killing case. The hired killer, Subhash Sharma, was given the death penalty, while all others accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.
MARCH 11, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MADHYA PRADESH PLANS TO IMPOSE DEATH PENALTY FOR THE RELIGIOUS CONVERSION OF GIRLS
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav said on March 8, 2025 that his govt would amend the law to provide for death penalty for forced religious conversion of girls.
- MARCH 5, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SUPREME COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN CONVICTED FOR KILLING HIS TWO MINOR CHILDREN TO LIFE WITHOUT REMISSION
The Supreme Court of India commuted the death sentence of Ramesh A. Naika, convicted for the murder of his two minor children, to life imprisonment without the possibility of remission, Law Trend reported on March 3, 2025.
- FEBRUARY 18, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: BENGAL MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR KIDNAPPING, RAPING 7-MONTH-OLD CHILD
A special POCSO court in Kolkata on February 18, 2025 sentenced a man guilty of rape and attempted murder of a seven-month-old child in north Kolkata to death by hanging.
FEBRUARY 13, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: FIVE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR GANG RAPE AND MURDER
A court in India has sentenced five men to death for the gang rape and murder of a teenager as well as the killing of her father and toddler-aged niece
- FEBRUARY 10, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC RAPS COPS FOR ‘FAULTY PROBE’, ACQUITS MAN ON DEATH ROW
The Supreme Court of India has set aside death penalty awarded to an Agra man who was earlier convicted for murder of his brother, sister-in-law and four children in a property dispute case in 2012, Times of India reported on February 10, 2025.
- FEBRUARY 5, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SUPREME COURT ACQUITS MUMBAI RAPE-MURDER CASE CONVICT ON DEATH ROW SINCE 2015
The Supreme Court of India has acquitted a man who had been sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in 2014.
- JANUARY 22, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 5 MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE-MURDER OF CHHATTISGARH GIRL
A fast-track court in Korba district of Chhattisgarh has sentenced five men to death for gang-raping and killing a 16-year-old girl and murdering her two family members in 2021.
- JANUARY 15, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: ORISSA HC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF 9 TO LIFE SENTENCE
The Orissa High Court on January 15, 2025 commuted the death sentences of nine individuals to life imprisonment in connection with a 2016 triple murder case.
DECEMBER 31, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: FATHER-SON DUO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING RELATIVE IN 2014 LAND DISPUTE CASE
A Bareilly court on December 24, 2024 sentenced a father-son duo to death in connection with a decade-old murder case, also imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each.
- DECEMBER 11, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: BOMBAY HC SETS ASIDE DEATH PENALTY OF KEY ACCUSED FOR MURDER OF PUNE FAMILY IN 1997, ORDERS HIS RELEASE
The Bombay High Court on December 9, 2024 set aside the death penalty granted to the key accused by a lower court for the murder of four members of a family, including two children, 27 years ago in Pune.