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
- FEBRUARY 7, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Former Indian prime minister VP Singh called for capital...
Former Indian prime minister VP Singh called for capital punishment for politicians responsible for corruption, particularly in matters related to defence
- FEBRUARY 7, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Dealing a major blow to the criminal prosecution system...
Dealing a major blow to the criminal prosecution system and granting extreme relief to a man who was sentenced to death for murdering four members of a family in 1996, the Supreme Court acquitted the accused holding that no independent witness was examine
- FEBRUARY 6, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A division bench of the Allahabad High Court urged...
A division bench of the Allahabad High Court urged the Indian Parliament to amend the law and provide for the death penalty for gang-rape
- FEBRUARY 5, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A man was condemned to death for killing four of his...
A man was condemned to death for killing four of his relatives in cold blood
- FEBRUARY 4, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Panthic Morcha [an opposition joint front of Sikh...
The Panthic Morcha [an opposition joint front of Sikh groups in the north Indian state of Punjab] said it favoured the abolition of capital punishment in its manifesto for the state legislative assembly elections which will be held in February
- JANUARY 7, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India's Delhi Police Force acquired a new weapon to...
India's Delhi Police Force acquired a new weapon to fight organised crime with the introduction of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act or MCOCA in Delhi
- JANUARY 3, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Hoping that an accused who had murdered his own mother...
Hoping that an accused who had murdered his own mother and the entire family of his brother over a land dispute might repent "for rest of life for commission of such ghastly act", the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence to a life term
- JANUARY 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indian legislative system also provides for different...
The Indian legislative system also provides for different levels of appeal, and death sentences are frequently commuted to life imprisonment upon appeal
- JANUARY 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
While Indian law allows death penalty for males above...
While Indian law allows death penalty for males above 16, Article 6 (5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which India ratified in 1979, and Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by India in 1992, make
- JANUARY 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On February 12, 1999, the Maharashtra Control of Organized...
On February 12, 1999, the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Ordinance, 1999, was signed by President K
- JANUARY 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code...
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code and by Art
- JANUARY 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The following sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)...
The following sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) are punishable with the death penalty: Section 121, on waging or attempting to wage a war against the government of India, which attracts death or imprisonment for life and a fine
- JANUARY 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Section 3(2a) of the Prevention Of Terrorist Activities...
Section 3(2a) of the Prevention Of Terrorist Activities Act (Pota) says "whoever commits a terrorist act, shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for life and also shall be liable to a fine
- DECEMBER 29, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An accused cannot be condemned only on the basis of...
An accused cannot be condemned only on the basis of circumstantial evidence, the Orissa High Court ruled
- DECEMBER 28, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Gujarat state Cabinet approved the draft Gujarat...
The Gujarat state Cabinet approved the draft Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill, 2001
- DECEMBER 21, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Four people were sentenced to death for the murder...
Four people were sentenced to death for the murder of Rajwinder Kaur's husband and in-laws
- DECEMBER 6, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Indian suspect Mohammed Afroz, 28, revealed that Al-Qaeda...
Indian suspect Mohammed Afroz, 28, revealed that Al-Qaeda [Osama Bin Laden's organisation] terrorists were planning to crash hijacked jets into the UK Parliament and Tower Bridge
- DECEMBER 2, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A division bench of the Patna High Court asked government...
A division bench of the Patna High Court asked government advocate S D Yadav to allow Arnit Das, a death-sentence convict, free movement out of the cell on the premises of the Phulwarisharif jail for two hours each in the morning and evening
- NOVEMBER 22, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A Bill to amend the Explosive Substances Act was introduced...
A Bill to amend the Explosive Substances Act was introduced in the House by the minister of state for the Interior Vidyasagar Rao
- NOVEMBER 13, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An Indian court sentenced four men to death for murder
An Indian court sentenced four men to death for murder
- NOVEMBER 8, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Andhra Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (APCOCA)...
The Andhra Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (APCOCA) came into effect on November 6
- NOVEMBER 7, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The All-India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) chairman...
The All-India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) chairman and former president of the Indian Youth Congress Maninderjit Singh Bitta, said that the proposal for the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) was not forceful enough to combat terrorism
- NOVEMBER 3, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A city court New Delhi sentenced a man to death for...
A city court New Delhi sentenced a man to death for burning his wife after she failed to arrange for Rs 5,000 as dowry
- OCTOBER 25, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Many senior officials of the Kolkata and West Bengal...
Many senior officials of the Kolkata and West Bengal police welcomed the stringent Prevention of Organised Crime Ordinance
- OCTOBER 23, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The state Cabinet approved a draft ordinance providing...
The state Cabinet approved a draft ordinance providing for capital punishment or life imprisonment for abductors, hijackers, and for anti-national and subversive activities
- OCTOBER 22, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A new anti-terrorism Ordinance banning 23 terrorist...
A new anti-terrorism Ordinance banning 23 terrorist outfits was promulgated
- OCTOBER 17, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
An Indian court convicted four people of spying on...
An Indian court convicted four people of spying on a military installation for arch-rival Pakistan, a charge that can carry the death penalty
- OCTOBER 2, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The death sentence imposed on Ajit Seth, the Paschim...
The death sentence imposed on Ajit Seth, the Paschim Vihar resident who had burnt two small children alive, was commuted to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Indian man for smuggling an...
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Indian man for smuggling an unspecified amount of heroin into the kingdom
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India's Representative in Malaya [Malaysia], Mr
India's Representative in Malaya [Malaysia], Mr