Death Penalty News

Ask anybody what a “death sentence” in India actually means, and the honest answer is that it can mean three quite different things. It can mean the noose—hanging by the neck until death; it can mean permanent confinement in jail—a term the courts now call imprisonment for the remainder of one’s natural life, and, far more often than either of the first two, it can simply mean delay in delivery of justice—a death sentence that is neither carried out nor commuted, waiting for completion of investigation, trial before the sessions court, hearing of a confirmation proceeding in a high court, appeal against conviction in the Supreme Court, or hearing of a mercy petition nobody has decided for years, sometimes for decades, until age or illness does what the state never got around to doing itself.

Pune (Maharashtra): A special court in Pune on Monday awarded the death penalty to a 65-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering a three-year-old girl in Pune district, describing the crime as “heinous.” The convict, identified as Bhimrao Kambale, was found guilty of raping and murdering the minor in Nasrapur village. The incident took place on May 1. The case was heard in a fast-track court (POCSO) following the incident. While pronouncing the sentence, the special court observed that the nature of the offence was heinous and held that the gravity and motive of the crime warranted the imposition of the death penalty.

The father of a four-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered in Nasrapur, Pune district, Maharashtra, on May 3 requested political leaders to refrain from visiting his home until his daughter receives justice and the accused is sentenced to death. In a self-recorded video, the father made a “humble request” on behalf of his family, asking that no politicians come to offer condolences at this time. He said the family would only meet politicians once justice is served in the case. “We are currently in Dehu to immerse my daughter’s ashes. During this time, I’ve been informed by relatives and friends that several politicians have been visiting our home to offer condolences etc. I want to make one humble request on behalf of my family and myself until my daughter receives justice and the accused is awarded the death penalty, no politician should come to our home to meet us. We will only be open to meeting anyone, including politicians, once justice is served. Until t...

Itanagar, Apr 27: A special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court in Arunachal Pradesh’s Yupia has sentenced a 44-year-old man to death for repeatedly raping his minor relative in 2019, terming the offence a “rarest of rare” case marked by a grave breach of trust. Special Judge (POCSO) Dr Hirendra Kashyap convicted Lakang Tallang under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape by a person in a position of trust and criminal intimidation, read with Section 6 of the POCSO Act.

On 13 April 2026, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court stayed a death sentence awarded to three convicts in a case from Dakshina Kannada. A trial court had convicted them and sentenced them to death in October 2024 for rape and murder under the penal code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 . A death sentence awarded by a trial court is not executable until it is confirmed by a High Court. On 6 February 2026, a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court confirmed the trial court’s decision. The Supreme Court left the conviction of the appellants untouched and reopened the sentencing question on two grounds: the High Court loosely engaged with the mitigation question in a single paragraph, and a third form of punishment—viewed as an alternative between ordinary life imprisonment and death penalty—was unconsidered.

A special court in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda on Friday sentenced a former Junior Engineer (JE) of the Irrigation Department and his wife to death for the sexual exploitation of 33 minor boys — some as young as three — over a decade, officials said. The POCSO court termed the crimes as “rarest of rare” and held Ram Bhawan and his wife Durgawati guilty of systematically abusing children between 2010 and 2020 and producing child sexual abuse material. Convicting the duo under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court sentenced them to death for offences including aggravated penetrative sexual assault, using a child for pornographic purposes, storage of pornographic material involving children, and abetment and criminal conspiracy, they said.

Data and recent Supreme Court judgments show how trial court death sentences frequently collapse under appellate scrutiny, raising questions about investigation, evidence and the use of capital punishment. Hanumangarh, Rajasthan: Eight years after a crime that later led to a death sentence, the Supreme Court has acquitted a young man from Chennai convicted of the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl. A trial court in Chengalpattu had sentenced him to death in 2018, a verdict later upheld by the Madras High Court. Earlier this month, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court overturned both judgments, citing serious gaps in the prosecution’s case.

Bargarh: A POCSO court in Odisha's Bargarh district on Tuesday sentenced a youth to death for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl around 14 months ago. The court convicted the accused, Prashanta Bag (35), under two sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Justice Kiran Kumar Pradhan also directed the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to provide a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the victim's family, public prosecutor Dyutish Acharya said.

The direction came as the bench of Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill and Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi held that the case did not fall within the ‘rarest of rare’ category warranting capital punishment A father, who raped and murdered his six-year-old daughter, has escaped the gallows after the Punjab and Haryana High Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment for the “remainder of his natural life” without remissions. The direction came as the bench of Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill and Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi held that the case did not fall within the ‘rarest of rare’ category warranting capital punishment.

KOLKATA: A Pocso court in the city on Tuesday sentenced a 34-year-old man to death for raping a seven-month-old infant on Nov 30 last year, leaving her fighting for life. The court termed the case "rarest of rare". The court also awarded compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the survivor. The sentencing came a day after Rajib Ghosh (also known as Gobra) was found guilty of the crime. "This is a rarest of rare case. There cannot be any other punishment that the court can think of," judge Indrila Mukhopadhyay Mitra said, reading out the verdict.

Gir Somnath (Gujarat), Jul 30 (PTI) A special POCSO court has sentenced to death a 32-year-old man for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in Gujarat's Gir Somnath district in 2022. In an order passed on Monday, special judge S I Bhorania at Kodinar town ordered that the accused, Somabhai Solanki, be "hanged by the neck till he is dead," and also directed him to pay Rs 25,000 as fine.

In a landmark ruling, District Judge and Additional Sessions Judge S R Padwal has issued a triple death penalty in the harrowing case of the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl reported in Linga village of Kalmeshwar tehsil in 2019.  Sanjay Devpuri Puri (32), the convict, faced full force of the law as Judge Padwal found him guilty under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. 

PTI — A court in Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday awarded death sentence to a man for raping and killing his relative, a seven-year-old girl in July 2021.

In February 2022, a special court had sentenced to death 38 convicts in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blast case, sharply pushing up the number of people getting capital punishment by trial courts in the state this year. Ahmedabad: Gujarat has seen a sharp rise in trial courts giving capital punishment with 50 people being sentenced to death this year till August compared to 46 between 2006 and 2021, as per data available with courts in the state. In February 2022, a special court had sentenced to death 38 convicts in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blast case, sharply pushing up the number of people getting capital punishment by trial courts in the state this year. Fifty-six people were killed and more than 200 injured in a series of blasts that ripped Ahmedabad in 2008. Besides this case, the trial courts in different cities also sentenced convicts to death in cases of rape and murder of minors, registered under the Protection of Children for Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Only in one of these c...

Terming the crime as "horrific" that merited "no forgiveness", the court upheld the "circumstantial evidence" presented by the prosecution, despite the "absence of direct evidence". The court ordered that the accused 'be hanged by the neck until he is dead' and awarded a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs to the parents of the victim. A special Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Limkheda of Dahod district awarded death sentence to a 32-year-old man for murder and attempt to rape a 2 1/2-year-old victim in 2018. The court held that “sympathy in any form” in heinous crimes “would be misplaced and shake the confidence in the criminal justice system”. Classifying the case among the “rarest of rare” as it “snatched away the life of a toddler, who had barely begun to live and had no understanding of life”, Dahod Additional Sessions Judge BS Parmar, in an order delivered on August 30, rejected all pleas of the defence counse...

Chhattisgarh High Court has commuted a death sentence to life imprisonment, awarded to a 28-year-old youth who was convicted by the trial court for committing sexual assault on a 3 1/2-year-old child and killing her by smothering in Rajnandgaon district 2 years ago. A division bench comprising Justice Sanjay K Agrawal and Justice Rajani Dubey partly allowed an appeal filed by Shekhar Korram maintained his convictions under various sections of IPC for kidnapping, murder and under the provisions of POSCO Act but the sentence of death has been commuted to life imprisonment by maintaining the fine amount. Besides, the High Court also directed that the life sentence must extend to the imprisonment for remainder of his natural life. According to the prosecution case, a minor girl aged about 3 years and 6 months went missing in August 2020 from near Chikhli in Rajnandgaon district and later it was found that she was murdered.  During investigation, Shekhar Korram was apprehended and he co...

A special fast track court in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh has awarded double-death sentence to a 32-year-old man for rape and murder of a 4-year-old girl. Accused was earlier arrested in connection with rape of her aunt. The sentence was given under Section 376A of the Indian Penal Code, under an amendment made in light of the gruesome Nirbhaya rape case. Besides capital punishment under Section 376A and Section 302 of IPC for murder by the trial court, he was sentenced to death under Sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) 2012 also. Categorizing the case as “rarest of rare” (which under a legal precedent is critical precedent for the awarding of death penalty), the court also turned down his contention for leniency on grounds of young age, making it clear that it can’t be mitigating circumstance in cases of extreme depravity, said sources. Incident took place in Khirkari village on February 4, 2021. The 4-year-old girl belonged to a poor family of la...

He was convicted on various counts and awarded death penalty under section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences The principal district court in Pune, on Monday, sentenced a 39-year-old man to death for sexual assault and brutal murder of a two-year-five-month-old girl in February 2021. The sentence is subject to confirmation by the Bombay High Court under section 28 of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) The child was kidnapped on February 15, 2021 and was found in the early morning hours of February 16, 2021 in 1 of the 3 huge concrete pipes that were laid on the side of the road in a nearby Kadwe village. The case was put on fast-track on orders of superintendent of Pune rural police Abhinav Deshmukh, heard and tried within one year and 14 days of the case being registered. The convict, Sanjay Baban Katkar, 39, is a resident of Kadwe village of Velha tehsil of Pune district, mentioned in open court when quantum of sentence was being pronounced that he committed the crim...

They should equally consider the mitigating factors in favour of life imprisonment, says Bench. Do not prescribe death penalty with an eye only on the abhorrence of the crime, equally consider factors that can help the prisoner keep his life, the Supreme Court told judges across the country in a verdict on Wednesday. In a judgment which may become a significant precedent to the anti-death penalty cause, the apex court said trial judges should not be swayed in favour of death penalty merely because of the dreadful nature of the crime and its harmful impact on the society. They should equally consider the mitigating factors in favour of life imprisonment. The judgment by a 3-judge Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar came in the rape and murder of a seven-year-old. The court commuted the death penalty of the convict to life imprisonment. ‘Preservation of human life’ Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, who authored the judgment, referred to the evolution of the principles of penology. Justice Mahe...

The Allahabad high court has acquitted a man who was awarded death penalty in the rape and murder of a minor, saying that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. While rejecting the reference for affirmation of death sentence and allowing the appeal of Nazil against the order of his conviction and sentence, a division bench comprising Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Sameer Jain set aside the judgment and order of the trial court. Besides, the high court acquitted the appellant Nazil of all the charges for which he was tried and convicted. The high court directed to release the appellant from jail forthwith unless wanted in any other case. Delivering this judgment dated December 12, the court observed, “In the present case, we find that the prosecution evidence has failed to prove the incriminating circumstances of the deceased being last seen alive with the appellant and the recovery beyond the pale of doubt, and there is no medical / forensic evidence to demo...