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
- 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
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The banned extremist outfit Maoist Communist Centre...
The banned extremist outfit Maoist Communist Centre called upon intelligentsia, students and landless labourers to oppose the death sentences given to its members and demanded their unconditional release
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The government approved the amendments to the Explosive...
The government approved the amendments to the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and the Explosive Substances (Amendment) Bill, 1999 to enable the central government to include any new special category explosive substance and alter the minimum punishment to 1
- AUGUST 25, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A Delhi court sentenced to death Devender Pal Singh,...
A Delhi court sentenced to death Devender Pal Singh, a Sikh militant, for exploding a car bomb near the Indian Youth Congress office in 1993, killing nine persons and injuring 29, including the then president of the organisation, Mr
- AUGUST 24, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The official Saudi Press Agency reported that Sayed...
The official Saudi Press Agency reported that Sayed bin Mahboub Sayed Amir, an Indian man, was executed for smuggling heroin into the country
- AUGUST 19, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Saudi Press Agency reported that Kanujia Din Dayal,...
The Saudi Press Agency reported that Kanujia Din Dayal, an Indian man, was beheaded for murdering a Saudi national by bashing his head with a rock during an argument
- JUNE 28, 2001IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A sessions court sentenced to death two sisters who...
A sessions court sentenced to death two sisters who abducted infants from various places in Maharashtra in the 1990s, forced them to commit thefts and subsequently killed them mercilessly