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
- AUGUST 12, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 3 GET GALLOWS FOR KILLING 10 IN ARA VILLAGE
in Ara, India, Additional district and sessions court-I judge Ajay Kumar Srivastava...
- AUGUST 9, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC UPHOLDS DEATH FOR MAN IN TRIPLE MURDER CASE
Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan of the Indian Supreme Court sentenced ...
- AUGUST 9, 2010PakistanDEATH PENALTY
SARABJIT SINGH'S DEATH SENTENCE 'STAYED' BY MUSHARRAF GOVERNMENT: ZARDARI'S OFFICE
Pakistan said that Indian national Sarabjit Singh's mercy petition is not pending in President Asif Ali Zardari's office, as his execution was already stayed by the 'previous government'.
- JULY 30, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH FOR SIX IN DOUBLE-MURDER CASE
a local court in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district in India sentenced six people to death for murdering Mubarak Hussain and his nephew Shah Alam on August 25, 2000, over a political rivalry.
- JULY 30, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DOUBLE DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER
in Cuddalore, India, Mahila Court Sessions judge K.Ashokan sentenced Sundararajan...
- JULY 28, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC ACQUITS MAN WHO WAS AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE BY LOWER COURT
a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court in India comprising Justice Yatindra Singh and Justice Surendra Singh acquitted the death sentence of Kanhaiya.
- JULY 15, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: WOMAN, PARAMOUR GET DEATH PENALTY
a court in Uttar Pradesh's Amroha district in India sentenced a woman and her paramour, identified as Shabnam and Saleem, to death for killing members of her family in Bawankheri village on April 14, 2008, over property.
- JULY 14, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
BOMBAY HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF 6 CONVICTS TO LIFE TERM
in India, Justices A P Lawande and R C Chauhan of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court commuted the death sentences of 6 people to life imprisonment.
- JULY 14, 2010United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: CASE OF 17 INDIANS ON DEATH ROW IN UAE ADJOURNED TO SEPT 1
the hearing in the appeals for 17 Indians sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates for killing a Pakistani man was adjourned for the third time by a Sharjah Court of Appeals, saying that it wanted an official interpreter for the convicts.
- JULY 12, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: THREE GET DEATH IN UAE FOR KILLING NRI FROM KERALA
three men from Kerala, India, M Sakkaria, K T Basheer and T K Anvar, were sentenced to death by a Sharia court in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, for murder.
- JULY 12, 2010United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: SHARJAH WORKER SENTENCED TO DEATH
in the United Arab Emirates, the Sharjah Sharia Court of First Instance sentenced Indian worker S.S. to death for beating an unidentified man to death who tried to rob him, a judicial official said.
- JULY 9, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: VASANT KUNJ MURDERS: HELP GETS DEATH
in Delhi, India, Additional Sessions Judge S K Sarvaria sentenced domestic help Mithilesh Kumar Singh to death for killing Surjit Kaur, 60, and her grandson Karamveer, 12, in March 2007 at Vasant Kunj and robbing them.
- JULY 9, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC ACQUITS MAN
a division bench of Justices Talukdar and De of the Calcutta High Court in India acquitted Ramapati Datta after he was sentenced to death by the Bankura sessions court.
- JULY 7, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH FOR ONE IN MURDER CASE
the Kumar Kamal fast track court in India sentenced Swapan Kumar Jha to death for kidnapping and murdering Sumit Kumar Ojha on October 20, 2008, in Jharia.
- JULY 5, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: MAN ON DEATH ROW WINS PARDON FROM VICTIM'S FAMILY IN SHARJAH
in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, Indian national M.K., was pardoned after he paid blood money to the parents of a man he allegedly murdered a coworker in Sharjah's Al Saja'a area in a fight over Dh30.
- JUNE 27, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: DEATH SENTENCE FOR COOK FOR KILLING PROSTITUTE
a 36-year-old Indian cook, AB, was sentenced to death by the Dubai Criminal Court in the United Arab Emirates. AB agreed with prostitute SY to have sex twice for Dh200, but after the first time she refused.
- JUNE 17, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: ON DEATH ROW IN DUBAI FOR 23 YRS, INDIAN’S MERCY PLEA
64-year-old carpenter Paul George Nadar from Tamil Nadu in India, who has been on death row in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, for the past 23 years is seeking his own quick execution.
- JUNE 17, 2010United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
DEATH SENTENCE APPEAL POSTPONED FOR INDIANS
the hearing on an appeal in the United Arab Emirates against a death sentence given to 17 Indians who were found guilty of killing a Pakistani man and injuring another four was adjourned by the Sharjah Court of Appeal to July 14, Gulf News has learnt.
JUNE 15, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: PRESIDENT COMMUTES DEATH FOR 8 TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT
in India, eight convicts on death row in two separate cases of murder received
- JUNE 14, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIAN EMBASSY IN RIYADH DENIES DEATH PENALTY REPORTS
the Indian Embassy in Riyadh denied reports that Sabir Ansari, an Indian national, had been sentenced to death for killing a compatriot in Saudi Arabia.
- JUNE 9, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH ROW CONVICTS WITHDRAW PLEA
10 people sentenced to death for their involvement in church blasts in several places in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in India, withdrew their habeas corpus petition in which they had said death is better than solitary confinement.
- JUNE 4, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: KASAB FILES APPEAL AGAINST DEATH SENTENCE
Pakistani Ajmal Kasab challenged his death sentence for killing 166 people in a terrorist attack on Mumbai in the Bombay High Court.
- JUNE 2, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HIGH COURT CONFIRMS DEATH SENTENCES
the Indian High Court confirmed the death sentences of Chand Khan alias Shaanmiya, Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri and Adam Ajmeri for helping two militants who attacked the Akshardham temple in 2002. These three were sentenced to death by a Pota court on July
- JUNE 1, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC UPHOLDS THREE DEATH SENTENCES
the division bench of Justices R M Doshit and K M Thakar of the Gujarat High Court...
- MAY 26, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC STAYS ANSARI'S DEATH SENTENCE
the Indian Supreme Court stayed the death sentence of Aftab Alam Ansari
- MAY 22, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA DEATH FOR GRANDFATHER IN SAMBALPUR
in Sambalpur, India, Kuchinda Additional District judge Saroj Kumar Pati sentenced Rajesh Hembram...
MAY 20, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SENTENCE FOR RAPE-MURDER COMMUTED
in a landmark judgment, the Gauhati High Court in India commuted the death sentence
- MAY 18, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DELHI GOVERNMENT BACKS DEATH SENTENCE FOR AFZAL
after 4 years, the Indian government backed the death sentence for Afzal Guru but gave remarks that the implication of law and order situation should be examined closely while carrying out the Supreme Court verdict.
- MAY 18, 2010United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD FOR MURDER
in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai Appeals Court unanimously confirmed the death sentences of two Indian men convicted of murdering and robbing Indian sales executive Y.A.
- MAY 15, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR TRIPLE MURDER
at a local court in India, Sessions Judge Fatehdeep Singh sentenced Kotkapura resident Joginder Singh to death for murdering a woman, her husband and minor son on July 2, 2008.