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
- JANUARY 25, 2007IndiaDEATH PENALTY
FIRST-EVER DEATH PENALTY AWARDED IN HISTORY OF RR DISTRICT COURTS
the death sentence of Chandrabhushan Upadhyay, for killing railway top official B.R.
- JANUARY 18, 2007IndiaDEATH PENALTY
MEN CHARGED WITH BARNALI KILLING SPARED NOOSE
the Indian Supreme Court has commuted the capital punishment of two convicts to life terms in the sensational Barnali Deb rape-and-murder case.
- JANUARY 11, 2007PortugalDEATH PENALTY
INDIA, PORTUGAL SIGN EXTRADITION TREATY
India and Portugal signed an extradition treaty, despite Portuguese objections to the death penalty which exists in India. Portugal, a pioneer in the abolition of the death penalty, abolished death penalty for all crimes, including those of a military nat
- JANUARY 1, 2007IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code and by Art. 21 of the Constitution which states
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code and by Art. 21 of the Constitution which states
- DECEMBER 23, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF 7-YR-OLD
an Additional District and Sessions court in New Delhi, India, sentenced to death Jiya Lal, an ice-cream vendor...
- DECEMBER 21, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING TEENAGER
two men and a woman were sentenced to death by a court in Hoshiarpur, India, for murdering a 16-year-old schoolboy on February 14, 2005.
- DECEMBER 20, 2006Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. INDIAN NATIONAL SPARED DEATH SENTENCE
an Indian national from Kerala, who was reportedly facing death sentence in Saudi Arabia, was set free due to the timely intervention of the Indian authorities.
- DECEMBER 18, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF WIFE, 4 CHILDREN
Mubarik Hussain aka Bablu, convicted of killing his wife and four children aged between 2 and 9 years on December 9, 2005...
- DECEMBER 15, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SUPREME COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER
India’s Supreme Court upheld the conviction of CPM activist...
- DECEMBER 15, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY FOR INDIA POLICEMAN
a court in India sentenced to death a former senior police official after finding him guilty of killing a man in custody nearly 20 years ago.
- DECEMBER 14, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER
a fast-track court sentenced to death Padam Kashyap...
- DECEMBER 13, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SUPREME COURT COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER
the Supreme Court of India converted to life imprisonment the death sentence handed down to Aloke Nath of Kolkata for the murder of his younger brother.
- DECEMBER 2, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SIX SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BRICK KILN MASSACRE
a Session Judge in Biharsharif in India’s Nalanda district...
NOVEMBER 30, 2006QatarDEATH PENALTYQATAR. THREE FOREIGN NATIONALS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
a criminal court in Doha, capital of Qatar, sentenced two Nepalese and an Indian to death after they were found guilty of forcing an Indonesian maid into prostitution and killing her. A fourth man of Nepalese nationality was sentenced to imprisonment for
- NOVEMBER 29, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. WEST BENGAL HOUSE CONDEMNS DEATH SENTENCE FOR SADDAM
the West Bengal Assembly, India...
- NOVEMBER 28, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. HIGH COURT SETS ASIDE DEATH PENALTY OF MURDER ACCUSED
in a landmark judgment, a division bench of the Bombay High Court at Goa, India, set aside the death sentence awarded to Soiru alias Sarvanand Gaonkar, an accused in a murder case reported at Cuncolim on June 28, 2004, and acquitted him of the crime.
- NOVEMBER 27, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. 4 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CHILD SACRIFICE
a woman and her three sons were sentenced to death by a court in Bulandshahr, India, for sacrificing a child earlier in the year.
- NOVEMBER 26, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SUPREME COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE DUE TO INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
India’s Supreme Court converted the death sentence of a convict from Punjab to life imprisonment due to insufficient evidence. Vikarmjit Singh had been sentenced to death by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for murdering his newly wed wife Meena Rani.
- NOVEMBER 18, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING COUPLE ON SORCERY CHARGE
Niranjan Khakhlary, 30, was sentenced to death by the Darrang district Sessions Court, India, for murdering a couple he believed to be practicing witchcraft.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SUPREME COURT STAYS DEATH VERDICT
India’s Supreme Court stayed the operation of a Kerala High Court judgment confirming the death sentence awarded to M.A. Antony of Aluva.
- NOVEMBER 11, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SUPREME COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE INTO LIFE TERM
India’s Supreme Court reduced to life imprisonment the death penalty awarded to Amrit Singh, a Punjab man found guilty of the rape and murder of a minor girl, saying it could have been a result of a momentary lapse on the part of the convict.
- NOVEMBER 10, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. KASHMIRI MILITANT ON DEATH ROW ASKS PRESIDENT FOR MERCY
Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri militant sentenced to death for his role in an attack...
- NOVEMBER 5, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
INDIA REACTS GUARDEDLY TO SADDAM'S HANGING
India reacted guardedly to the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, saying the death sentence required the "credible due process of law."
- OCTOBER 30, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIAN COURT GIVES POLICEMAN'S SON DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER
an Indian court sentenced the son of a former top policeman to death after convicting him for the 1996 rape and murder of a law student. Santosh Kumar Singh was sentenced seven years after he was initially acquitted of raping and murdering Priyadarshni Ma
- OCTOBER 26, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. FORMER CONSTABLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER
the No.7 Fast Track court in Bangalore, India, sentenced former police constable Umesh Reddy to death for raping and murdering a woman identified as Jayashree, 37, on February 28, 1998.
- OCTOBER 24, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. SC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE, CITES ENMITY
India’s Supreme Court found two brothers guilty of beheading their brother-in-law, suspecting him to have murdered their sister.
- OCTOBER 19, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA DELAYS EXECUTION OF CONVICTED KASHMIRI
the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri man sentenced to death for his role in the 2001 Indian parliament attack, had been delayed until the president answered his call for clemency, officials said.
- OCTOBER 18, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. LAW MINISTRY OPPOSES CLEMENCY FOR KASHMIRI ON DEATH ROW
India's Law Ministry said there was no "compelling reason" to stop the hanging of Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri Muslim found guilty plotting a 2001 attack on parliament.
OCTOBER 11, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA. SUPREME COURT CLIPS PRESIDENT’S POWERS OF PARDON
India’s Supreme Court clipped the president’s power to pardon convicts on death row.
- OCTOBER 4, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. HANGING OF INDIAN MILITANT DEFERRED AFTER MERCY PETITION
the wife of Mohammed Afzal, who has been slapped with a death sentence for a terror attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001, has filed a mercy petition before President APJ Abdul Kalam, news reports said.