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
- 1,862
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 1,862 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
- JUNE 11, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER OF WIFE, KID
a local court in Siddharthnagar, India, awarded the death sentence to Pateshwari Chaudhary for killing his wife and daughter.
- JUNE 9, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
QATAR: APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR THREE ASIAN MEN IN MURDER CASE
for the second time, a Doha appeals court in Qatar upheld the death penalty of two Indians and a Nepali in a murder case.
- JUNE 5, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR EUNUCH MURDER
a contract killer who shot a eunuch inside the Tis Hazari Court premises, six years ago, was awarded the death sentence by a sessions court in India.
- JUNE 5, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH PENALTY TO MAN FOR KILLING WIFE OVER DOWRY
a local court in Kushinagar, India, awarded the death penalty to a husband and life imprisonment to a father in law for murdering a woman for her dowry in the Kotwali area.
- JUNE 3, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH TO 8 SINCE JAN
as many as eight people were awarded capital punishment by different courts in Bihar...
- JUNE 2, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC CHIDES NHRC FOR EXCEEDING ITS POWERS IN DEATH SENTENCE CASE
the Indian Supreme Court set aside an order of the Assam Governor who, on the direction of the NHRC, commuted the death sentence of a man who massacred four members of family.
JUNE 1, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: THOSE WHO BURN BRIDES NEED TO BE HANGED - SC
the Indian Supreme Court said people convicted of burning their wives for bringing
- MAY 28, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC CONFIRMS DEATH SENTENCE OF MURDER ACCUSED
the Allahabad High Court in India confirmed the death sentence given to Sandeep of New Delhi for a murder that took place on November 17, 2004. Sandeep’s pregnant lover Jyoti, refused to abort the child and threatened to tell her family, so he and Shashi
- MAY 26, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: FOUR GET DEATH FOR NANDOS KILLINGS
in India, Sindhudurg District Principal and Sessions judge JN Shanbaug sentenced four Mumbai youths to death for their involvement in the infamous 2003 Nandos killings.
- MAY 25, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC REFUSES TO SEE MERIT IN DEATH TERM
the Indian Supreme Court reduced the death sentence of a murder convict to life imprisonment.
- MAY 21, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER OF FRIEND
Rabin Malick, 19, was sentenced to death by Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Barrackpore First Track Third Court in India, for the murder of his friend Abhishek
- MAY 18, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 3 GET DEATH FOR KILLING FRIEND
a fast-track court in Bhagalpur, India, awarded capital punishment to Gulab, Asmat and Pipiya for murdering their friend, Mohd Illias, out of jealousy as he planned to marry a girl they fancied.
- MAY 14, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC REMITS DEATH PENALTY TO LIFE FOR RANSOM MURDER
the Indian Supreme Court reduced the death sentence on a man who kidnapped and murdered a railway clerk for a ransom of Rs 10 lakh in 2001 to life imprisonment.
- MAY 14, 2009MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: HOUSEWIFE SENT TO THE GALLOWS FOR HUSBAND'S DEATH
a housewife and her cousin were sentenced to death by the Malaysian High Court after they were found guilty of murdering her husband in 2004.
- MAY 13, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL - SC
the Indian Supreme Court termed the capital punishment law "uncertain" and "falling
- MAY 11, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC DIVIDED ON SURAT RAPE AND MURDER CASE VERDICT
a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court pronounced a divided judgement in the 1999 rape and murder case of a 10-year-old girl in Surat, India.
- MAY 9, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC COMMUTES LIFE SENTENCE
a man sentenced to death for killing his wife and three children had his sentence commuted by the Delhi High Court in India
- MAY 6, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN GETS DEATH FOR DOUBLE MURDER
a 27-year-old man was sentenced to death in India by additional sessions judge AM Tamboli for robbing and murdering his senior citizen employers
- MAY 5, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: CENTRE SENDS FINAL OPINION TO PRESIDENT ON 27 MERCY PETITIONS
the Indian government sent its final opinion to the President on 27 of the 29 mercy petitions of death row convicts.
- MAY 2, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC HANDS DOWN DEATH SENTENCE TO SIX FOR MURDERING FAMILY
Justices Arijit Pasayat and Mukundakam Sharma of the Indian Supreme Court sentenced six convicts to death for the murder of five family members on June 5, 2003.
- MAY 1, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF GIRL, 4
in Madanapalle, India, Second Additional District magistrate Ganesh Babu sentenced Golla Appaiah, 34, to death for raping and murdering a minor girl on August 29, 2007
- APRIL 30, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY IN NASIK MURDER CASE
the Indian Supreme Court upheld the death penalty of six convicts involved in the sensational Nasik murder case.
- APRIL 29, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE REFERRED TO SUPREME COURT BENCH
the Indian Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Ramesh Bhai Chandi Bhai Rathod for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Surat district of Gujarat in 1999.
- APRIL 29, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: FATHER-IN-LAW GETS DEATH
in Thrissur, India, District and Sessions Judge B Kemal Pasha sentenced Mammikutty, 60, to hang for murder.
- APRIL 28, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC REFERS BACK DEATH SENTENCE CASE TO LOWER COURT
the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court in India referred back a petition of death sentence to the lower court citing that the "convict failed to get enough chances to prove his credentials."
- APRIL 26, 2009Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: INDIAN SPARED DEATH SENTENCE, RETURNS HOME
Indian national Abu Rafe, 27, who was sentenced to death by the Abha Central Court in Saudi Arabia in 2007 for murder, was set free by the same court.
- APRIL 22, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: APEX COURT CONFIRMS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KERALA MURDER
the Indian Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence of a Kerala man for
- APRIL 20, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: KIDNAPPERS CAN BE SENTENCED TO DEATH: SC
the Indian Supreme Court held that a person can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment for kidnapping another person to extract ransom even if the accused had not caused any hurt to the victim.
- APRIL 8, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HC REDUCES MAN'S DEATH SENTENCE IN DOUBLE MURDER CASE
the Delhi High Court in India reduced the death sentence of a man convicted of killing two cousins over a business dispute. A Division Bench of Justices B D Ahmed and P K Bhasin commuted the sentence passed on Raminder Singh, alias Happy.
- APRIL 3, 2009IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR KILLING WIFE, DAUGHTER
in India, a Kottayam district judge sentenced Shanu, alias Shanavas, 32, of Paippad, to death for murdering his wife, Sareena, alias Lovely, 26, and daughter Ameesha