Supreme Court rejects plea to replace hanging with painless method

The ruling keeps hanging as India's method of execution, while allowing for a possible review if scientific, medical, or other evidence supports a less painful alternative

  The Supreme Court has declined to replace hanging as India’s method of executing the death penalty, but has left the door open for the issue to be reconsidered if stronger scientific evidence emerges.

 

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the constitutional validity of execution by hanging. The plea, filed by senior advocate Rishi Malhotra, had sought a more humane and less painful alternative to hanging.

 

Supreme Court upholds existing position on hanging

 

The petition challenged Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provided for execution by hanging until death, and its corresponding provision under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

 

The petition argued that hanging is cruel and that the right to life should also encompass the right to die with dignity. It suggested alternatives such as lethal injection, while pointing out that several countries have moved away from hanging.

 

However, the Supreme Court said there was no sufficient reason to reconsider its 1983 judgment in Deena v Union of India, which had upheld hanging as a constitutionally valid method of execution.

 

Court leaves scope for future review

 

While dismissing the plea, the Bench made clear that the judgment does not permanently close the debate.

 

The Court said it could reconsider the issue if new scientific, medical, or other evidence shows that the reasoning behind its earlier 1983 ruling is no longer valid.

 

The Court further said the Union government could undertake a comprehensive scientific review of how death sentences are carried out through an expert body.

 

Such a review could involve specialists in law, forensic medicine, neuroscience, criminology, and other relevant scientific and medical fields. The objective would be to determine whether an alternative method could minimise unnecessary pain while preserving the dignity of condemned prisoners.

 

Project 39A, a criminal justice programme that provides legal aid and representation to death row prisoners, also supported setting up an expert committee to study the issue. However, it pointed out that lethal injection, often suggested as an alternative to hanging, has not always resulted in a quick or reliable death.

 

The government had earlier told the Court that it was examining the issue at the highest level.