In colonial India , death was prescribed as one of the punishments in the Indian Penal Code , 1860 ( IPC ) , which listed a number of capital crimes . It remained in effect after independence in 1947 . The first hanging in Independent India was that of Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case on 15 November 1949
Mahatma Gandhi assassination case
Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
Capital punishment in India