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
- DECEMBER 8, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. GOVERNMENT: NO DEATH PENALTY TO ABU SALEM
the Indian Government declared that extradited underworld don Abu Salem would not be punished with the death penalty or with a prison term exceeding 25 years, as per the guarantee given to the Portuguese Government prior to extradition.
- DECEMBER 7, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. FTC AWARDS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT TO MAN IN MURDER CASE
a Fast Track Court in Davangere in India’s Karnataka state, sentenced to death Prakash Yadhav, 35, on charges relating to the murder of a two-year-old girl.
- NOVEMBER 23, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO LABOURER FOR MURDERING OLD COUPLE
a Sessions Court in Goa, India, sentenced to death Sarvanand Gaoncar after finding him guilty of murdering an elderly couple.
- NOVEMBER 16, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. FOUR PEOPLE HAVE DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED
a division bench of the Kerala High Court, India, commuted into life imprisonment the death penalties of four people accused in the Panniyannur Chandran murder case in 1996.
- NOVEMBER 11, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India. India will not execute Abu Salem, CBI chief
India agreed not to execute Abu Salem before Portugal extradited him, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Misra said.
- NOVEMBER 10, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. DEATH PENALTY FOR MILITANT
tribal militant Ashok Debbarma alias Achak was sentenced to death by the West Tripura Additional District and Sessions Court, India, for killing 15 Bengalis in Tripura in 1997.
- NOVEMBER 8, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPE, MURDER UPHELD
the Karnataka High Court, India, upheld a lower court order sentencing to death Shiva and Jadeswamy, two villagers from Kollegal, Chamarajnagar district, for raping and murdering an 18-year-old girl. The court had on October 27 upheld a ruling by the Ch
- NOVEMBER 2, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. PUDR GIVES ITS REASON FOR ABOLISHMENT OF THE DEATH PENALTY
the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), a civil rights body in India which is in the process of gathering information on the number of people executed in the country, said that its opposition to the death penalty was based on three factors.
- NOVEMBER 2, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. LEGISLATURE WILL DECIDE ON DEATH PENALTY: CHIEF JUSTICE
India's new chief justice, Y.K. Sabharwal, sought to distance himself from the debate on the death penalty, saying the legislature would have to take a final call on the issue.
- OCTOBER 31, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. PAKISTANI SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR INDIA FORT ATTACK
a Delhi court sentenced to death Mohammad Ashfaq, a Pakistani, over a militant attack at New Delhi's famous 17th Century Red Fort in December 2000.
- OCTOBER 31, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE AND MURDER
the Manjeri Fast Track Court in Malappuram, India, sentenced a man to death after convicting him of raping and murdering a 12-year-old schoolgirl.
- OCTOBER 29, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. UNION LAW MINISTER IN FAVOUR OF DEATH PENALTY, CALLS FOR DEBATE
the Indian government is yet to take a decision on the abolition of the death penalty and is going by the Supreme Court’s guideline that it be awarded in only in the rarest of rare cases, said Union law minister H R Bhardwaj.
- OCTOBER 26, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. PRESIDENT CALLS FOR COMPREHENSIVE POLICY ON DEATH PENALTY
continuing the debate in India on pardons for death row convicts, President A P J Abdul Kalam said a policy should be laid down after all aspects relating to the death penalty had been discussed in Parliament.
- OCTOBER 26, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. TEENAGERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TWIN MURDERS IN 2003
an additional session court in Mumbai, India, sentenced to death Assis Domnic Warawale and Clint Ernish Fernandes, and gave five years rigorous imprisonment to Wilfred Dias for the murder of Leticia Xavier Mendes and her grandson Master Dylon Sunil Lobo.
- OCTOBER 24, 2005IndiaDEATH 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
- OCTOBER 20, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. NEW CJI FAVOURS ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY
Chief J ustice of India-designate Justice YK Sabarwal said he favoured abolition of the death penalty. Justice Sabarwal, who was due to take over as CJI on November 1, said as a Supreme Court Judge he favoured the awarding of capital punishment but he wan
- OCTOBER 19, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. KALAM'S MOVE BOOSTS CAMPAIGN AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's direction to review the cases of some people on death row left the government in a dilemma, but it appeared to have given a new momentum to the campaign against the death penalty.
- OCTOBER 18, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. EDITORIAL: SHALL WE ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY?
“Recent events in various countries (especially in the developing world) have driven many to the conclusion that murder will never cease to be an instrument of politics until the execution even of proved murderers is regarded as immoral and wrong. In the
- OCTOBER 16, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. DEATH ROW MERCY PLEAS: PRESIDENT KALAM IN FAVOUR OF PARDON TO MOST
in a move without any precedent, President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam advised the Government to consider a pardon for a majority of an estimated 50 individuals on death row whose mercy petitions were pending before him.
- OCTOBER 15, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. GUJARAT COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH FOR TERRORISM
a fast track sessions court in Bhuj, India, sentenced to death Shahnawaz Abdul Gafur, a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, after finding him guilty of waging war against the nation.
- OCTOBER 10, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. PUDR CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY IN INDIA
the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) called for the abolition of death penalty in India calling it an archaic form of punishment which upheld the ''savage'' norm of an eye-for-an-eye and violated the right to life, a principle on which humane c
- OCTOBER 9, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. WORLD DAY AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
on the eve of the 'World Day Against the Death Penalty’, Amnesty International (AI) undertook a silent march from
- OCTOBER 7, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. HIGH COURT COMMUTES STUDENT'S DEATH SENTENCE
the Andhra Pradesh High Court, India, commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence of Yelchuri Manohar, a 24 year old student convicted of murdering his classmate.
- OCTOBER 6, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF HUSBAND
the Malda fast track court, India, sentenced to death Chandana Mandal after she was found guilty of killing her husband.
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India. HC upholds death sentence for tourist's murderer
the Allahabad High Court, India, confirmed the death sentence awarded to Dharam Deo Yadav, an accused in the murder case of Diana Clare Routley, a New Zealander who visited India in 1997.
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING HIS MOTHER
a fast track court in Bihar, India, sentenced to death Mohammad Khalid for killing his mother Sobra Khatoon.
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. COURT UPHOLDS SARABJIT SINGH'S DEATH SENTENCE
Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld a death sentence imposed on Sarabjit Singh, an alleged Indian spy, for a bombing that killed four people in 1990, court officials said.
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. DEATH PENALTY FOR SWAMI SHRADDHANAND UPHELD
the Karnataka High Court upheld the death sentence on Swami Shraddhanand, who had been found guilty of the sensational murder of his wife Shakereh.
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India. Pakistan court says Indian ‘spy’ deserved death
the death sentence handed to Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national convicted of spying and carrying out a series of bomb attacks, was "well deserved", Pakistan's top court said in its detailed judgement upholding the penalty. Singh was convicted in 1991 by a
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. EIGHT PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Barrackpore Fast Track First Court, India, sentenced eight people to death in connection with the murder of Archideb Bhattacharya, a private tutor and small-time businessman, in the Kharda police station area of North 24 Parganas district.