While modern international humanitarian law (IHL) is linked most directly to nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe, India over the period of its 5,000 years history has developed its own rules of warfare for the protection of non-combatants and civilian populations akin to modern IHL. Many scholarly works provide an extensive overview of the norms of conflict in ancient India. In the ancient period, implementation of these Dharma-based Hindu and Buddhist principles were followed by the rulers and decision makers as their paramount duty. However, the status of IHL implementation in modern Indian history is not as great as its ancient past despite the comparatively high number of conflicts it has had with its neighbours, along with numerous internal conflict situations which it has been grappling with. Contemporary India is often criticised for its indifference to the effective implementation of its international law commitments, especially IHL obligations. Though a party to the universally ratified four Geneva Conventions of 1949 (Geneva Conventions), India is still not keen on acceding to the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions.