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
- 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
- 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