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
- NOVEMBER 9, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: PLEA FOR ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY
Justice Ajit Singh Bains, president of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation, appealed for the abolition of the capital punishment in India.
- NOVEMBER 4, 2009Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA BEHEADS 1 INDIAN, 2 LANKANS FOR MURDER
Two Sri Lankans, one of them a woman, and an Indian were beheaded by the sword in the Red Sea city of Jeddah for theft and murder, the Saudi interior ministry said.
- NOVEMBER 1, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MERCY FOR MAN ON DEATH ROW SINCE 1998
a man identified as Govindasami, who had been on death row in India since 1998, had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment by President Pratibha Patil.
- OCTOBER 30, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: BAJRANGI'S AIDE GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER
a sessions court in Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh, India...
- OCTOBER 30, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: COURT AWARDS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT TO THREE IN BIHAR
at a local court in Bihar, India, Additional Sessions Judge Upendra Bhushan Mishra sentenced Dipak Rai, Jagat Rai and Bacha Babu Rai to death
- OCTOBER 30, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC ALLOWS REVIEW OF ITS DEATH PENALTY DECISION
the Indian Supreme Court allowed a review after restoring the death penalty of a murder convict without giving him a hearing.
- OCTOBER 29, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE
at a local court in Ropar, India, Additional Sessions Judge Mandeep Pannu awarded the death sentence to Jagjit Singh for the murder of three members of a family.
- OCTOBER 28, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: PC RECOMMENDS CLEMENCY TO DEATH ROW CONVICT
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram has recommended to the President commutation of the death sentence of a prisoner in Tamil Nadu, R Govindaswami.
- OCTOBER 18, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH PENALTY BY UNLF
the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in Imphal, India, awarded the death penalty to Pukhrambam Mangoljao for killing Soram Prabhakar, alias Thoi, 5, after snatching gold earrings from him.
- OCTOBER 10, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: CAMPAIGN AGAINST DEATH PENALTY STARTS FROM PUNJAB
a signature campaign against the death penalty was launched in India by the Dal Khalsa and the Khalsa Action Committee on the occasion of World Day against the Death Penalty.
- OCTOBER 8, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN ON DEATH ROW FOR KILLING CHILD ACQUITTED
a division bench of Justices Bilal Nazki and A R Joshi of the Bombay High Court in India acquitted Nallasopara resident Virendra Vasudev Sada, alias Shahrukh Khan, 28, of raping and murdering his neighbour's daughter.
- OCTOBER 7, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE IN TWO CASES
a man was awarded the death sentence by Fast track court Judge K R Jinan in Thodupuzha, India, for hacking to death his mother and maternal grandfather and two others.
- OCTOBER 7, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH CONVICT CLAIMS TO BE A JUVENILE
V. Selvam, sentenced to death in India for the rape and murder of a 10 year old girl at Jaihindpuram on October 22, 2006, claimed that he was a minor at the time of the crime.
- OCTOBER 5, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: KASHMIRI GETS DEATH SENTENCE IN RAJOURI
in occupied Kashmir, India, a local court in Rajouri awarded the death sentence to a Kashmiri
- OCTOBER 1, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
a court in the Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, India, sentenced militia member Mohammad Younus, alias Amir Khan, to hang.
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DR MAHAJAN MURDER CASE: DEATH SENTENCE QUASHED
in India, the Bombay High court quashed the death sentences of Leena Deosthali and her daughter Deepti.
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: COURT GRANTS DEATH TO FOUR ACCUSED
an ADJ (III) court in Ghaziabad, India, sentenced four men to death for the murder of four members of a family in Nabipur, Muradnagar.
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: TWO GET DEATH SENTENCE FOR TEENAGER’S MURDER
in India, 3rd Additional Sessions Judge C J Akarte sentenced Rajesh Shivprasad Sakhre...
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC CAUTIONS GOVERNMENT AGAINST SITTING ON MERCY PLEAS
the Indian Supreme Court advised the government to expeditiously dispose of mercy pleas of prisoners sentenced to death.
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC AWARDS DEATH TO MAN WHO HACKED WIFE, 5 CHILDREN
the Indian Supreme Court awarded capital punishment to a man identified as Jagdiah who hacked his wife and five children to death with a long knife on August 19, 2005.
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: KHURSHID CALLS FOR RETHINK ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
in India a Union Minister called for a rethink on the issue of Capital punishment.
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH FOR PRISONER FACING LIFE TERM
in Chatra, India, Additional District and Sessions Judge (fast track-II) Sudhir Kumar Sinha...
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: TWO AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE IN KIDNAP AND MURDER CASE
in Ghaziabad, India, Additional District Judge found Rajesh Panda and Vishal guilty of kidnapping Dhanajay, 6, for Rs 10 lakh ransom on September 6, 2004, and murdering him. His body was found on October 3, 2004.
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC ACQUITS PANDHER IN NITHARI KILLINGS CASE
Justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and K N Pandey of the Allahabad High Court in India acquitted death row prisoner Moninder Singh Pandher but upheld the death sentence against his domestic help Surinder Koli.
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: JUDGE ORDERS EXECUTION OF DEATH SENTENCE
in India, a Lohardaga sessions judge ordered the execution of Mofil Khan and Mobarak Khan on September 18, 2009.
- SEPTEMBER 4, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HIZBUL MILITANT GETS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
a Hizbul Mujahideen militant was sentenced to death by a court in India’s Reasi district for murder. Principal
- SEPTEMBER 4, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: KASHMIRI GETS DEATH SENTENCE
in occupied Kashmir, India, Reasi Principal Sessions Judge A K Koul awarded the death penalty to Abdul Rashid for killing a 70 year-old man and two minor girls in Mahore in 2008
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: IKHWANI GETS DEATH PENALTY
in Kupwara, India, Principal District and Sessions Judge Rasheed Ali Dar sentenced government gunman...
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE TERM
the Indian Supreme Court commuted the death sentence awarded to 35-year-old Sushil Kumar, of Jalandhar, to life imprisonment
- AUGUST 31, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DELHI HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT
the New Delhi High Court in India commuted the death sentence of a man who murdered a witness on court premises. Shree Gopal shot dead eunuch Neelam inside the Tis Hazari court premises in 2003.