The report marks the 10th anniversary of the effort by the team at The Square Circle Clinic (formerly Project 39A) to document, collect, and analyse country-wide data on capital punishment. In the last ten years, 1,279 individuals have been handed the harshest punishment in the Indian criminal justice system: the death penalty. The Death Penalty in India : Annual Statistics Report (2016-2025) released on 4th February, 2026, presents an in-depth analysis of death penalty in India and maps the evolving nature of the use of capital punishment. Beyond the rhetorical debates around the death penalty, it is a culmination of 10 years of labour to visibilise the granular trends in India’s use of the death penalty.
Key Findings
- As of 31 December 2025, 574 persons (550 men and 24 women) were on death row in India. This is the largest number of persons on death row at the end of a calendar year since 2016.
- For the third consecutive year, the Supreme Court did not confirm any death sentences. Moreover, the court acquitted 10 people in 2025, the highest number since 2016.
- In August 2025, in Vasanta Sampat Dupare v. Union of India the Supreme Court elevated sentencing hearings which are in compliance with the sentencing guidelines issued by the Court in Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh (2022) to an accused’s fair trial requirements under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
- In the past decade, the acquittal rate of High Courts has been four times the confirmation rate. The Supreme Court’s acquittal rate was twice the confirmation rate.
- In 2025, Sessions Courts sentenced 128 persons to death in 94 cases. Between 2016 and 2025, Sessions Courts imposed 1,310 death sentences on 1,279 persons. Between 1 January and 31 December 2025, at least 138 persons were taken off death row in the appellate process.
- The Sessions Courts imposed 1310 death sentences (822 cases) between 2016-2025. Of these, 842 death sentences were disposed of at the High Courts. Of the 842 Sessions Court death sentences that High Courts considered in confirmation proceedings, 70 (8.31%) were upheld. A little more than a third (30.64%) of the death sentences, i.e., 258 led to an acquittal. Out of these 70 death sentences, the Supreme Court decided 37 death sentences, and upheld none.
- From 2016-2025, 515 death sentences were commuted by the High Courts and 71 by the Supreme Court. At the High Courts, 209 sentences were commuted to life imprisonment simpliciter and 303 to life imprisonment sentences with restriction on remission.
- At the Supreme Court, 27 death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment simpliciter and 44 were commuted to life imprisonment sentences with restriction on remission. In 2025, all five commutations were to life imprisonment without remission for the remainder of natural life.
- Between 2016-2025, the Supreme Court reconsidered its own confirmations in 21 cases involving 35 persons. In 15 cases (24 persons), it set aside the confirmation and in 6 cases (11 persons), the death sentence was confirmed.
- The President rejected 19 mercy petitions between 2016-2025, and accepted 5. 1 mercy petition was rejected in 2025.
Reach out to squarecircleclinic@nalsar.ac.in to know more about the report, and our ongoing work on criminal justice issues.
The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR 