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
- DECEMBER 1, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: CLEMENCY SOUGHT FOR 11
the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) sought clemency for 11 people given the death penalty by the special sessions court, which heard cases regarding the serial church blasts across Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in 2000.
NOVEMBER 29, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTYDEATH PENALTY FOR 11 IN KARNATAKA CHURCH BLAST CASE
a special court in India awarded the death sentence to 11 people, life imprisonment to 12 and acquitted four
- NOVEMBER 26, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF TEENAGED GIRL
the Mahila court in Coimbatore, India, awarded the death sentence to a daily wage worker for kidnapping, raping and murdering a teenaged girl three years ago
- NOVEMBER 22, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: KHAIRLANJI CONVICTS MOVE HC AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
those convicted in the Khairlanji case in India filed an appeal to the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court challenging their death penalty.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC ACQUITS TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRIPLE MURDER
slamming the Madhya Pradesh Government for shoddy prosecution, the Indian Supreme Court acquitted
- NOVEMBER 8, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN ON DEATH ROW GETS RELIEF FROM HIGH COURT
the Madras High Court in India acquitted an accused in a murder case, setting aside the death sentence by a lower court. Ramesh was arrested on February 16, 2007 for murdering Thiruvatchi Ammal on January 19, 2004 in Avinandgudi.
- NOVEMBER 4, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: FARM HAND GIVEN DEATH TERM FOR KILLING COUPLE
a man in Fatehabad, India, was awarded capital punishment by a local court for the killing of a farmer couple in Raipur Dhani.
OCTOBER 31, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: ANTONY COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF JAWAN
an Army jawan in India facing the death penalty for killing an officer had his death sentenced commuted to
- OCTOBER 29, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
the Indian Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of the state of Uttar Pradesh and directed the acquittal of two
the Indian Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of the state of Uttar Pradesh and directed the acquittal of two
- OCTOBER 26, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN GETS HC REPRIEVE: SENTENCE COMMUTED FROM DEATH TO LIFE
a division bench of Justices RP Dholakia and Justice ZK Saiyad commuted the death sentence awarded to a rape-and-murder case accused to life imprisonment.
- OCTOBER 23, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR THREE BROTHERS IN UTTAR PRADESH
a court in Uttar Pradesh, India, sentenced three brothers to death in a decade-old triple murder case.
- OCTOBER 21, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DOMESTIC HELP GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING EMPLOYER'S SON
a Delhi Court in India awarded the death sentence to a domestic help for killing his employer’s four-year-old son when he resisted his attempt to rape his sister in 2006.
- OCTOBER 21, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER OF BJP LEADER
at a local court in Sultanpur, India, Additional District and Sessions Judge...
- OCTOBER 15, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HIGH COURT REPRIEVE FOR MOTHER-DAUGHTER DUO
the Bombay High Court in India corrected the sessions judge who awarded the death sentence to the mother-daughter duo in the Dr Deepak Mahajan murder case, saying the judge recorded the evidence like a "tape-recorder" without any interruption and hence, i
- OCTOBER 6, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: ONLY PRESIDENT CAN PARDON SARABJIT: NAEK
Pakistani Law Minister Farooq Naek met Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh at the Lahore’s Kot Lakhpath Jail to review his case following the Indian government’s appeal for clemency for him.
- OCTOBER 3, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: COURT RESERVES VERDICT ON DEATH SENTENCE
in India, the Karnataka High Court reserved its verdict...
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 6 GET DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLINGS LOW CASTES
an Indian court sentenced six men to death for the brutal killings of a low-caste woman and her three young children, officials said.
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DOMESTIC HELP GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDERING EMPLOYERS
in India, a Calcutta city court sentenced a domestic help to death for murdering his employer and his wife in 2005.
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DALIT MURDER IN BARABANKI
a fast track court in Barabanki, India...
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: PAPIYA MURDER CASE: SHANKAR SHAH GETS DEATH PENALTY
a fast track court in India handed down the death sentence to one in the sensational double murder of eminent History Professor Papiya Ghosh and her maidservant Malti in December, 2006.
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: ONE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE, TWO KIDS
a man in Jalandhar, India, was sentenced to death District and Sessions Court Judge Gurdev Singh for killing his wife and two children on September 21, 2007.
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SC UPHOLDS ACQUITTAL OF MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
the Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, upheld the acquittal of a man sentenced to death by a sessions court for allegedly murdering a minor girl after she resisted his attempt to rape her.
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 3 GET DEATH FOR TRIPLE MURDER
a local court in Aligarh, India, handed down the death penalty to three people, accused of a triple murder 12 years ago.
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: WOMENS ORGANISATIONS DEMAND HANGING OF RAPISTS
with the rising crimes against women in Meghalaya, several women’s organisations demanded the death penalty against the arrested people involved in the killing of two women.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA. FIGHT AGAINST DEATH PENALTY SET TO GET TOUGHER
with increasing support for tougher laws to deal with fundamentalist and extremist activities in India, the fight against death penalty is set to get tougher, former Additional Director of Central Bureau of Investigation V.R.Lakshminarayanan said.
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MPHC CANCELS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
the Madhya Pradesh High Court in India cancelled the capital punishment of a man who was held guilty by a lower court for immolating eight people, including four women.
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: TEACHER GETS DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF STUDENT
disturbed by the recent spate in rape and murder of minors and determined to set a deterrent example, the Indian Supreme Court awarded the death penalty to a teacher, himself a father of three, for raping and murdering a 5th standard girl.
- AUGUST 29, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
a man in India was sentenced to death by a court for murdering a woman
a man in India was sentenced to death by a court for murdering a woman
- AUGUST 29, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR DRUG PEDDLING
in only the second case of its kind in Ahmedabad state, a man was sentenced to death by a Nadiad
- AUGUST 13, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH FOR DOWRY DEATH?
the Law Commission of India is planning to make the law regarding dowry death more stringent, hoping it would help restrain the occurrence of dowry related crimes.