Capital punishment
Hinduism and capital punishment
An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blindGandhi
There is no official Hindu line on capital punishment. However, Hinduism opposes killing, violence and revenge, in line with the principle of ahimsa (non-violence).
India still retains the death penalty, and the reasons for this are likely to be similar to be those suggested in the Buddhist section.
The debate on capital punishment in India was revived in 2004 by the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee who had been sentenced for rape and murder.
At present more than 100 people are on death row in India, although the number of executions in that country is actually very low and the Indian Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty should only be used in the rarest of rare cases.