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
- AUGUST 11, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: TWO TAXI DRIVERS GET CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR KILLING AUSTRALIAN TOURIST
in a Delhi Court in India, two taxi drivers were sentenced to death for killing 59 year old Australian tourist Dawn Emilie Griggs after gang raping and robbing her in 2004.
- AUGUST 11, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SC CAN FIX TENURE OF LIFE TERM IN LIEU OF DEATH PENALTY
the Indian Supreme Court ruled that in order to minimize the use of death penalty, it has the power to fix tenure of life imprisonment while substituting it for death sentence.
- AUGUST 8, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE, 2 KIDS
after the Punjab and Haryana High Court confirmed the death sentence of a man for killing his wife and two children in Jalandhar in March 2005, Judge BK Mehta of a local additional sessions court issued warrants for his execution on September 20.
- AUGUST 5, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: FOUR DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER
four people were sentenced to death by a court in Lohardaga, India, for killing eight members of a family last year after a feud over land. District and Sessions Judge Goutam Kumar Choudhury pronounced the judgement against Mofil Khan, Mubark Khan, Wakil
- AUGUST 4, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: YOUTH GETS DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF MINOR GIRL
the Madurai District Court in India handed the death sentence to a 20 year old youth, charged with the rape and murder of a minor.
- JULY 29, 2008United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: TWO INDIAN MEN SPARED DEATH ROW IN SHARJAH
in a major reprieve in the United Arab Emirates, a Sharjah court pardoned two Indian migrant workers.
- JULY 25, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF 5 YEAR OLD
the Indian Supreme Court sentenced a man, identified as Bantu, to death for raping and murdering a five year old girl and attempting to cover up the crime as an accident.
- JULY 22, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
the Indian Supreme Court commuted the death sentence awarded to Swami Shardanand
the Indian Supreme Court commuted the death sentence awarded to Swami Shardanand
- JULY 9, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
in Thrissur, India, District Sessions Judge B Kamalpasha...
in Thrissur, India, District Sessions Judge B Kamalpasha...
- JUNE 30, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court...
the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court...
- JUNE 30, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
a local fast track court of Govind Prasad Singh...
a local fast track court of Govind Prasad Singh...
JUNE 29, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA. ‘JUDGES SHOULD NOT BE LENIENT WHILE DEALING WITH GRAVE CRIMES’
Judges should not be lenient while sentencing those who have committed
- JUNE 28, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
a local fast track court in Aurangabad...
a local fast track court in Aurangabad...
- JUNE 26, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
the Qatar Court of Appeals upheld the verdict...
the Qatar Court of Appeals upheld the verdict...
- JUNE 18, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
a local fast track court in Buxar...
a local fast track court in Buxar...
- JUNE 14, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
a court in Panchkula, India...
a court in Panchkula, India...
- JUNE 11, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
the chief investigator of the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv..
the chief investigator of the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv...
- JUNE 11, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF MINOR
a local court in Coimbatore convicted and sentenced a 34-year-old man to capital punishment for the rape and murder...
- JUNE 10, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
leading Pakistani rights activist Ansar Burney found another...
leading Pakistani rights activist Ansar Burney found another...
JUNE 9, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA. TWO CPI (MAIOST) REBELS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Two CPI (Maoist) rebels were sentenced to death by a fast track court in
- JUNE 8, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: AFZAL 'SICK' OF DELAY IN DEATH PENALTY
on death row for the last three years, India's most controversial convict, Mohammed Afzal, wants a speedy conclusion to his ordeal.
- JUNE 7, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
DEATH FOR MAN WHO TORCHED 8 PEOPLE TO DEATH
in India, Additional District Judge RN Chand sentenced 65 year old Farookh alias Nana alias Bashir alias Rauf to death torching eight people to death
- JUNE 5, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
a 45 year old man, Sonahar Ali, a resident of Karimganj district, was
a 45 year old man, Sonahar Ali, a resident of Karimganj district, was
- JUNE 3, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: JUDGES SAY NO TO DEATH
most judges of the Calcutta High Court in India want the death sentence to be abolished.
- JUNE 2, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: TWO INDIANS FACE DEATH IN CHINA FOR SMUGGLING DRUGS
two Indian Tamils, one a native of Thanjavur and the other from Ramanathapuram, were sentenced to death by a Chinese court for narcotics smuggling.
- MAY 31, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: PERINJANAM CASE: DEATH PENALTY FOR ACCUSED
Principal Sessions judge V. Kamal Pasha sentenced Jayanandan, alias Jayan, 39, to death by hanging in the Perinjanam double murder case in India.
MAY 30, 2008Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYUAE. FORMER INMATE SAVES TWO FRIENDS FROM DEATH ROW
an Indian and a Sri Lankan were saved from death row in the United Arab Emirates by
- MAY 28, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA AFTER 13 YRS, BHAGALPUR READIES HANGMAN NOOSE
the Bhagalpur Central Jail in India will be witnessing its first execution in 13 years.
- MAY 22, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: WE ARE STUDYING THE DEATH PENALTY: NHRC CHIEF
the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is independently studying the validity of the death penalty in India, says its chief, Justice (Retd) S. Rajendra Babu
- MAY 21, 2008IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS SEEK AFZAL GURU'S RELEASE
several Indian civil liberties and democratic rights organisations sought the immediate release of Mohammed Afzal Guru, who was falsely implicated in the Indian parliament attack case on December 13, 2001, and awarded capital punishment.