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
- FEBRUARY 7, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A study by the Law Commission on the barbarity involved...
A study by the Law Commission on the barbarity involved in methods of execution recommended that India replace hanging with lethal injection
- FEBRUARY 5, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that the Jharkhand High Court had recently...
It was reported that the Jharkhand High Court had recently commuted the death sentences of Saiyad Rizwan and Chaitali Bhowmick, husband and wife, to life imprisonment
- FEBRUARY 4, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Tibetans in the Indian capital New Delhi staged a protest...
Tibetans in the Indian capital New Delhi staged a protest against the execution of a Tibetan separatist by China, witnesses said
- JANUARY 31, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Tibetan protestors, who were arrested on January 30...
Tibetan protestors, who were arrested on January 30 in New Delhi while holding a demonstration outside the Chinese Embassy against the execution of Tibetan monk Lobsang Dhondup [on January 26 in China], went on a hunger strike inside Tihar jail, the Tibet
- JANUARY 29, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Seven people were sentenced to death and an equal number...
Seven people were sentenced to death and an equal number given life imprisonment by a sessions court in India for setting ablaze a bus which killed six persons in 1998 following a dispute over money
- JANUARY 24, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Indian Deputy Prime Minister L
Indian Deputy Prime Minister L
- JANUARY 16, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Tika Ram, a citizen of Nepal, was sentenced to death...
Tika Ram, a citizen of Nepal, was sentenced to death for murdering five members of a family in India in 1996
- JANUARY 10, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Patna High Court commuted the death sentence awarded...
The Patna High Court commuted the death sentence awarded to Arnit Das, a murder case convict, to life imprisonment
- JANUARY 9, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indian Federal Cabinet approved its Government's...
The Indian Federal Cabinet approved its Government's decision to give a sovereign assurance to Portugal that Abu Salem, wanted in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts, would not be given capital punishment if he is extradited to India
- JANUARY 8, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An Indian sessions court in Tuticorin sentenced three...
An Indian sessions court in Tuticorin sentenced three brothers to death for hacking to death five of their relatives after a quarrel in 2001
- JANUARY 6, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Former Chief Justice of India B N Kirpal favours stringent...
Former Chief Justice of India B N Kirpal favours stringent punishments like life sentences for rapists but is against the death sentence for them
- JANUARY 1, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code...
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code and by Art
- DECEMBER 27, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah said he would...
Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah said he would challenge the death penalty awarded to the three convicted in the Parliament attack case
- DECEMBER 25, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A group of women widowed in the anti-Sikh riots of...
A group of women widowed in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 protested the acquittal of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar the riots case and demanded a probe into the carnage in which more than 2,700 people were killed in the capital
- DECEMBER 25, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Referring to the four death sentences issued on December...
Referring to the four death sentences issued on December 23 for the murder of a traffic constable, the journalist Rasheeda Bhagat wrote "There is a point of view that the judgement is too harsh and the evidence there too is quite flimsy
- DECEMBER 23, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Following a detailed study on the issue, Justice P...
Following a detailed study on the issue, Justice P N Bhagwati was reported as saying that in India only the poor were sent to the gallows
- DECEMBER 23, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Four activists of the banned group, Al-Umma, were sentenced...
Four activists of the banned group, Al-Umma, were sentenced to death and four others to life imprisonment by the second fast track court judge, R
- DECEMBER 21, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman V
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman V
- DECEMBER 20, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International expressed its dismay at the death...
Amnesty International expressed its dismay at the death sentences handed down to Mohammad Afzal, Shaukat Hussain and Abdul Rehman Geelani for the Parliament attack, stating that the course of justice was "not served by judicial murder
- DECEMBER 19, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Shops and businesses were closed in Kashmir's main...
Shops and businesses were closed in Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, in protest against death sentences awarded to three Kashmiri men convicted for an attack on India's parliament
- DECEMBER 19, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Kashmiri separatists were planning...
It was reported that Kashmiri separatists were planning protests against the death sentences awarded to three Kashmiris convicted for the Parliament attack case
- DECEMBER 19, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Thirty people, including lawyers and separatist leaders,...
Thirty people, including lawyers and separatist leaders, were taken into preventive custody as violent demonstrations marked day-long demonstrations staged by the Kashmir Bar Association to protest the death sentence issued to the Parliament attack case c
- DECEMBER 19, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Praveen Togadia, secretary-general of the Vishwa Hindu...
Praveen Togadia, secretary-general of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad welcomed the death sentence awarded to three of the four accused in the Parliament attack case, saying that to control "jehadi" terrorism, it was imperative that capital punishment be handed
- DECEMBER 19, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Pakistan-based militants promised to step up attacks...
Pakistan-based militants promised to step up attacks in Indian Kashmir to protest the death sentences handed to Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru on December 18 for their part in a deadly attack on the Indian Parliament
- DECEMBER 18, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Police in Jammu and Kashmir were put on high alert...
Police in Jammu and Kashmir were put on high alert after a POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) designated court in New Delhi awarded death sentences to three Kashmiris, namely Syed Abdur, Rehman Geelani, Showkat Guru and Mohammad Afzal for the attack on pa
- DECEMBER 18, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Abdul Sattar Guru, father of Shaukat Guru, one of the...
Abdul Sattar Guru, father of Shaukat Guru, one of the men sentenced to death by a POTA court in New Delhi for the Parliament attack case, spoke out in his son's defence: "I can say with authority that my son Shaukat has been sentenced for nothing
- DECEMBER 18, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An anti-terrorism court in Delhi sentenced to death...
An anti-terrorism court in Delhi sentenced to death three men convicted of helping militants attack India's parliament in 2001
- DECEMBER 3, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Times Of India published an interview with lawyer...
The Times Of India published an interview with lawyer and activist, Subrata Mukherjee, regarding the proposed implementation of the death penalty for convicted rapists
- DECEMBER 2, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A witch doctor found guilty of sacrificing a nine-year-old...
A witch doctor found guilty of sacrificing a nine-year-old boy six years ago was sentenced to death by a Jharkhand court
- DECEMBER 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
In an editorial in the Hindustan Times Vir Sanghvi...
In an editorial in the Hindustan Times Vir Sanghvi argued against the debated implementation of the death penalty to convicted rapists: "I have two problems with the death-penalty-for-rape approach