Capital punishment in India

Death penalty in India
Ministry of Law and Justice
  • Capital Punishment Legislature and functioning in India
CitationSource
Territorial extentAll over India
Enacted byGovernment of India
Summary
The legislation dealing on the subject of capital punishment and its working in Republic of India.
Keywords
Capital punishment, India
Status: In force

Capital punishment in India is the highest legal penalty for crimes under the country's main substantive penal legislation, the Indian Penal Code, as well as other laws. Executions are carried out by hanging as the primary method of execution per Section 354(5) of the Criminal Code of Procedure, 1973 is "Hanging by the neck until dead", and is imposed only in the 'rarest of cases'.[1][2]

Currently, there are around 539 [3] prisoners on death row in India. The most recent executions in India took place in March 2020, when four of the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder perpetrators were executed at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.[4]

  1. ^ "Article". 17 August 2005. Archived from the original on 17 August 2005. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Project 39A — Annual Statistics". Project 39A. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Nirbhaya Rape Case Hanging: Everything you need to know". Mumbai Mirror. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.