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
- NOVEMBER 30, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Gang rape victim Anjana Mishra stated in the Hindustan...
Gang rape victim Anjana Mishra stated in the Hindustan Times that rapists should not be sentenced to death
- NOVEMBER 30, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India Defence Minister George Fernandes joined a rising...
India Defence Minister George Fernandes joined a rising call to apply the death penalty to rapists, saying Chinese-style execution would be suitable in India where a woman is molested every hour
- NOVEMBER 30, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's suggestion that...
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's suggestion that rapists should be hanged does not seem to be favoured by legal experts, social activists and police personnel in the city
- NOVEMBER 30, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India Defence Minister George Fernandes joined a rising...
India Defence Minister George Fernandes joined a rising call to apply the death penalty to rapists, saying Chinese-style execution would be suitable in India where a woman is molested every hour
- NOVEMBER 29, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association,...
The Secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association, Brinda Karat, said the Deputy Prime Minister, L
- NOVEMBER 29, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Legal experts declared themselves divided over the...
Legal experts declared themselves divided over the announcement made by deputy prime minister L K Advani that rapists should be awarded capital punishment
- NOVEMBER 28, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
At a seminar organised by West Bengal Legal Aid Services...
At a seminar organised by West Bengal Legal Aid Services Legal Aid Services chairman Ganguli, in response to Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's statement that rapists should be executed, stressed that capital punishment contradicted the right to life guar
- NOVEMBER 26, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said in the Lok Sabha...
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said in the Lok Sabha that the government favours the death sentence for rapists and would like to enact a law for this in consultations with states and political parties
- NOVEMBER 18, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Three men all Indians caught trafficking drugs in a...
Three men all Indians caught trafficking drugs in a sting operation were sentenced to death by the Dubai Supreme Court
- NOVEMBER 17, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Khayali Khan, 30, and Shahzad, 28, two prisoners serving...
Khayali Khan, 30, and Shahzad, 28, two prisoners serving life sentences were tortured to death by officials of the Kasur District Jail
- OCTOBER 31, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A local court has sentenced a youth to capital punishment...
A local court has sentenced a youth to capital punishment for raping and murdering a minor school girl, last year
- OCTOBER 28, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Women's rights activists are urging Miss India to give...
Women's rights activists are urging Miss India to give up aspirations of fame and join the boycott of this year's Miss World pageant in Nigeria over the sentencing of a single mother to death by stoning
- OCTOBER 20, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Lisbon has officially told New Delhi that it would...
Lisbon has officially told New Delhi that it would not interfere in the Portuguese judicial process and India should initiate extradition proceedings against fugitive Mumbai blasts accused Abu Salem instead of trying for the more speedy process of deporta
- OCTOBER 14, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
In a written reply to external affairs minister Yashwant...
In a written reply to external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha's letter to his counterpart in Lisbon, the Portuguese foreign office last week communicated that there was no problem in handing over Abu Salem after the procedural nitty-gritty was completed
- OCTOBER 14, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Campaign for Custodial Justice and Abolition of...
The Campaign for Custodial Justice and Abolition of Torture has called for repeal of all detention laws, including the National Security Act, saying preventive arrests are tantamount to torture
- OCTOBER 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A controversial Supreme Court judgement in the Devender...
A controversial Supreme Court judgement in the Devender Pal Singh case- in which several persons were killed when the accused made an attempt on the life of Congress activist M S Bitta - did not enforce the need for corroboration of evidence while convict
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Three Indians were sentenced to death by a Dubai court...
Three Indians were sentenced to death by a Dubai court for possessing and dealing in drugs
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India formally sought deportation of underworld don...
India formally sought deportation of underworld don Abu Salem, who was arrested along with his wife Monica Bedi in Lisbon with Pakistani passport, and said it was prepared to guarantee that he would not be given death penalty
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Calcutta Eastern Indian Metropolis High Court acquitted...
The Calcutta Eastern Indian Metropolis High Court acquitted ten convicts on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to substantiate charges against them
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Calcutta Eastern Indian Metropolis High Court acquitted...
The Calcutta Eastern Indian Metropolis High Court acquitted ten convicts on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to substantiate charges against them
- AUGUST 31, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Additional sessions judge S
Additional sessions judge S
- AUGUST 17, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A Thai and an Indian, namely Saelow Praset, 55, and...
A Thai and an Indian, namely Saelow Praset, 55, and Ayodya Praset Combay, 57, both sentenced to death for trying to smuggle heroin into Indonesia, expressed complaints to the press over the long delay concerning the reply to their application for a Presid
- AUGUST 14, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
District and sessions judge (Rajgarh, Rajasthan) PK...
District and sessions judge (Rajgarh, Rajasthan) PK Sharma Rajgarh handed down the death sentence to Jora and Wazir and a life term to Balraj and Laxman on the charge of murdering Mahant Krishan Giri, who was president of Akhil Bhartiya Sadhu Samaj of Bal
- AUGUST 12, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The beheading of an Indian national, convicted of smuggling...
The beheading of an Indian national, convicted of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia, at a public place in al Khobar highlights the need for creating awareness among job seekers from being exploited as drug carriers
- AUGUST 11, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Mohammed Ali Haji, an Indian national convicted of...
Mohammed Ali Haji, an Indian national convicted of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia, was beheaded in Al Khobar, the Saudi news agency (SPA) said
- AUGUST 11, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Residents of the Indian village of Noorani Basti held...
Residents of the Indian village of Noorani Basti held a demonstration demanding the death sentence for the killers of Ishrat, a married girl who was burnt by her in-laws and died in civil hospital ten days later, on August 9
- AUGUST 11, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
In May 1991, they blew up the man who would be India's...
In May 1991, they blew up the man who would be India's Prime Minister
- AUGUST 11, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
In May 1991, they blew up the man who would be India's...
In May 1991, they blew up the man who would be India's Prime Minister
- AUGUST 10, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court has modified the death sentence imposed...
The Supreme Court has modified the death sentence imposed on two accused in a multiple murder case into life imprisonment on the ground that death sentence could be awarded only to those who could not be reformed or rehabilitated and if they constituted a
- AUGUST 9, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India's Supreme Court modified the death sentence imposed...
India's Supreme Court modified the death sentence imposed on two accused in a multiple murder case into life imprisonment on the ground that death sentence could be awarded only to those who could not be reformed or rehabilitated and if they constituted a