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
- 1,863
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 1,863 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
- MARCH 28, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Subash Singh Thakur, kingpin of a breakaway faction...
Subash Singh Thakur, kingpin of a breakaway faction of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, was given the death sentence for organising a deadly shoot-out in the JJ hospital seven years previously
- MARCH 3, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Former Pakistani Parliamentarian and senior Congress...
Former Pakistani Parliamentarian and senior Congress leader, Ghulam Rasool Kar strongly condemned the excesses of Indian forces in occupied Kashmir and demanded a probe into the Indian brutalities
- FEBRUARY 26, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India's law minister, Ram Jethmalani strongly favoured...
India's law minister, Ram Jethmalani strongly favoured abolition of capital punishment saying the useless exercise has failed to eradicate crime or act as deterrent
- JANUARY 31, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (TRC) staged demonstrations...
Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (TRC) staged demonstrations in Tamil Nadu, demanding the capital punishment awarded to four accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case be carried out at the earliest opportunity
- JANUARY 26, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Madras High Court upheld the President's order...
The Madras High Court upheld the President's order rejecting the mercy petition of Govindasamy, who had been sentenced to death for murdering five persons in 1984, holding that there had been no inordinate delay in the disposal of his clemency plea
- JANUARY 24, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The United Communist Party of India (UCPI) demanded...
The United Communist Party of India (UCPI) demanded execution "without any change" of the Supreme Court order sentencing to death the four accused in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case
- JANUARY 20, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The District and Sessions Court in Assam handed out...
The District and Sessions Court in Assam handed out the death sentence to Dhaneswar Haloi for a double murder
- JANUARY 5, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court of India commuted to life imprisonment...
The Supreme Court of India commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded to Kishori, the infamous "butcher of Trilokpuri" for killing several people during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots
- JANUARY 3, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the federal...
India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the federal government should amend the laws dealing with terrorism to give "severe punishment", including capital punishment, to those involved in terrorist activities
- JANUARY 1, 2000IndiaDEATH 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, 2000IndiaDEATH 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, 2000IndiaDEATH 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
- DECEMBER 18, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On December 18, District and Sessions Judge Vikramjit...
On December 18, District and Sessions Judge Vikramjit Singh pronounced death sentences on Ramadhar, Onkar Yadav, Umashankar, Mukteshwar, Madan and Munnilal who would be hanged to death for the mass killing which took place in Ghazipur 11 years ago
- DECEMBER 18, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On December 18, General Secretary Vaiko of the MDMK,...
On December 18, General Secretary Vaiko of the MDMK, a partner in the ruling BJP-led coalition, said he and Tamils National Movement leader P
- DECEMBER 14, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On December 14, during a meeting organized by women's...
On December 14, during a meeting organized by women's organizations in the city of Chennai, Ossie Fernandez of the Campaign Against the Death Penalty explained the rationale of the lobby which was against the extreme punishment, by saying that the campaig
- NOVEMBER 27, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 27, Minister Ram Jethmalani hinted that...
On November 27, Minister Ram Jethmalani hinted that he was personally against awarding the death sentence to rapists
- NOVEMBER 25, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 25, the Madras High Court set aside the...
On November 25, the Madras High Court set aside the Tamil Nadu Governor's order rejecting the clemency petitions of the four condemned prisoners
- NOVEMBER 24, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 24, Nata Mullick, 73, a veteran hangman...
On November 24, Nata Mullick, 73, a veteran hangman but now an avid anti-death penalty campaigner, joined a citizens' group fighting for the abolition of capital punishment
- NOVEMBER 18, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 18, Mrs Sonia Gandhi pleaded for commutation...
On November 18, Mrs Sonia Gandhi pleaded for commutation of the death sentence of Nalini
- NOVEMBER 14, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 14, the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) urged President...
On November 14, the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) urged President Narayanan to commute the death sentences awarded to the four
- NOVEMBER 11, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 11, former Director-General of Police V
On November 11, former Director-General of Police V
- NOVEMBER 9, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The "Campaign Against the Death Penalty" had also intervened...
The "Campaign Against the Death Penalty" had also intervened on behalf of a condemned prisoner, L
- NOVEMBER 3, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 3, Bhuvanesh Chaturvedi, speaking at the...
On November 3, Bhuvanesh Chaturvedi, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly (human rights) under item 116a (death penalty), said that the Second Optional Protocol, which opened for signature in 1989, till today has only 38 ratifications
- NOVEMBER 2, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 2, Mr Ponnuswamy, who is also the General...
On November 2, Mr Ponnuswamy, who is also the General Secretary of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), said the party's stand was in tune with the founder leader S
- NOVEMBER 2, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Also on November 2, the four moved the Madras High...
Also on November 2, the four moved the Madras High Court, seeking a directive to declare the rejection of their mercy petitions by Tamil Nadu Governor Justice M
- NOVEMBER 2, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 2, Tamil Nadu Congress President Tindivanam K
On November 2, Tamil Nadu Congress President Tindivanam K
- OCTOBER 31, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On October 31, the Bharatiya Janata Party's State Unit...
On October 31, the Bharatiya Janata Party's State Unit Chief K
- OCTOBER 29, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On October 29, the Supreme Court confirmed the death...
On October 29, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence on Molai, a jail guard, and Santosh, a convict serving a jail term on rape charges, who were engaged to do household work at a jail official's residence in the prison compound, raped his 16-yea
- OCTOBER 28, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On October 28, Samata Party General Secretary Jaya...
On October 28, Samata Party General Secretary Jaya Jaitly said her party had consistently stood against capital punishment as a matter of policy and "deep belief
- OCTOBER 22, 1999IndiaDEATH PENALTY
On October 22, Junior Minister for Human Resource Development...
On October 22, Junior Minister for Human Resource Development Sumitra Mahajan said that a draft of the legislation, proposing to bring a legislation in the next session of Parliament to make rape an offense punishable by death, has been sent to the NCW