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
- APRIL 6, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The People's Legal Forum (PLF) submitted a petition...
The People's Legal Forum (PLF) submitted a petition to the President of India, A
- MARCH 30, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
U.K. Venugopal was sentenced to death by a fast track...
U.K. Venugopal was sentenced to death by a fast track court in Manjeri, India, after being found guilty of murdering his employer
- MARCH 28, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The need for abolishing the death penalty was emphasised...
The need for abolishing the death penalty was emphasised at a meeting organised by the Society for Community Organisation Trust (SOCO)
- MARCH 27, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Madras High Court, India, commuted the death sentence...
The Madras High Court, India, commuted the death sentence of 32 year old Marimuthu into life imprisonment
- MARCH 25, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An Indian court in Bhuj town in Gujarat state sentenced...
An Indian court in Bhuj town in Gujarat state sentenced four Pakistani men to death for "waging war" against India after they were caught smuggling the deadly explosive RDX into the country in 1999
- MARCH 10, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Members of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC)...
Members of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC) and the Regional Tibetan Women's Association from Bylakuppe, Hunsur, Kollegal, and Mysore staged a candlelight demonstration at the Town Hall in Mysore, India, to draw public attention to the death sen
- FEBRUARY 20, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indian Supreme Court stayed the execution of alleged...
The Indian Supreme Court stayed the execution of alleged Jaish-e-Mohd militant Mohd Afzal, given death penalty by the Delhi High Court for the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament, and issued notice to the Delhi Government on his petition challenging th
- FEBRUARY 18, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A court in Naogaon, Bangladesh, sentenced two people,...
A court in Naogaon, Bangladesh, sentenced two people, including an Indian national, to death and awarded life imprisonment to two others for murder
- FEBRUARY 5, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Hailing as "positive" a Portuguese court ruling on...
Hailing as "positive" a Portuguese court ruling on extradition of underworld don Abu Salem, India voiced appreciation for the "excellent cooperation" of Lisbon
- JANUARY 29, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Terming them as a
Terming them as a "threat and grave danger to the society at large," the Indian Supreme Court sentenced to death four members of the forest brigand Veerappan's gang for killing 22 policemen and injuring 14 others in a landmine blast in Karnataka in April,
- JANUARY 25, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An Indian man convicted for the rape and murder of...
An Indian man convicted for the rape and murder of an 18-year-old woman in Calcutta has been on death row for 14 years because state authorities forgot to hang him, the Indian Express newspaper reported
- JANUARY 19, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India's Supreme Court set aside the death penalties...
India's Supreme Court set aside the death penalties ordered by the Delhi High Court against Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru, two Kashmiri Muslims, for their role in an attack on India's parliament on 13 December 2001
- JANUARY 12, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The United National Liberation Front (UNLF) executed a deserter
The United National Liberation Front (UNLF) executed a deserter
- DECEMBER 21, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court of India upheld the death penalty...
The Supreme Court of India upheld the death penalty awarded to Suhsil Murmu for sacrificing a nine-year-old child to appease a deity in Jharkhand
- DECEMBER 18, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's cabinet...
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's cabinet gave the green light for the death sentence for those guilty of making fake pharmaceutical products in the country, officials said
- DECEMBER 14, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, sentenced to...
The Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, sentenced to death Shushil Murmu for 'sacrificing' his neighbour's nine-year child in 1996 to the Goddess Kali to gain prosperity and well being seven
- DECEMBER 9, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The District Additional Sessions Court in Kozhikode,...
The District Additional Sessions Court in Kozhikode, India, sentenced to death Balan Nair, a 53-year-old man, after finding him guilty of murdering three of his neighbours at Moorad in January 2001
- DECEMBER 8, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that 36 prisoners on death row for...
It was reported that 36 prisoners on death row for various crimes in India's Bhagalpur prison had not been executed because there was no hangman
- NOVEMBER 19, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Delhi High Court acquitted Sunil Kumar Mandal,...
The Delhi High Court acquitted Sunil Kumar Mandal, a man who had been sentenced to death by an Additional Sessions Court on November 2, 2001, for burning his wife for dowry
- NOVEMBER 18, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Allahabad High Court, India, commuted nine out...
The Allahabad High Court, India, commuted nine out of thirteen death sentences and acquitted the four remaining convicts of their death sentences
- NOVEMBER 11, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Allahabad high court, India, commuted six death...
The Allahabad high court, India, commuted six death sentences, in four separate cases
- NOVEMBER 7, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A court in India's capital, Delhi, sentenced to death...
A court in India's capital, Delhi, sentenced to death a former politician who shot his wife and burned her dismembered body in a restaurant oven
- OCTOBER 30, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Thalasserry district and sessions court, India,...
The Thalasserry district and sessions court, India, sentenced to death M
- OCTOBER 29, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Delhi High court, India, acquitted two people originally...
The Delhi High court, India, acquitted two people originally sentenced to death in the December 13, 2001, terrorist attack on Parliament, lecturer Sayed Abdul Rahman Geelani and Afsan Guru, a woman
- OCTOBER 15, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A Dubai court in the United Arab Emirates, sentenced...
A Dubai court in the United Arab Emirates, sentenced four Indians to death for the murder of a well-known Indian businessman who was reportedly gunned down in broad daylight in a reported gangland revenge killing
- OCTOBER 12, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Capital punishment forecloses the chance for reformation...
Capital punishment forecloses the chance for reformation and hence should be repealed as has been done by most civilised nations, former Indian Supreme Court Judge, K
- OCTOBER 10, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Lahu Dhekane was sentenced to death by an Additional...
Lahu Dhekane was sentenced to death by an Additional and Sessions Court in Pune, India, for the 4 July 2003 abduction, and eventual murder, of Amit Sonawane, 13, from Nira
- OCTOBER 3, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Singapore prison officials hanged Arunprakash Vaithilingam,...
Singapore prison officials hanged Arunprakash Vaithilingam, 25, an Indian immigrant worker, for the murder of a flat mate on 22 December 2001
- OCTOBER 1, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An Indian court sentenced to death a man, identified...
An Indian court sentenced to death a man, identified only as Poonaji, who was convicted of burning his wife, four daughters and a neighbour to death in a fit of rage
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An Indian court sentenced Dara Singh to death and 12...
An Indian court sentenced Dara Singh to death and 12 others to life imprisonment for killing an Australian Christian missionary and his two young sons in a mob attack