The Supreme Court has declined to re-examine the constitutional validity of execution by hanging, upholding a decades-old legal precedent while noting that the central government remains free to evaluate alternative execution methods that minimize prisoner suffering.
A bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta on Tuesday rejected a plea seeking to refer a 1983 three-judge bench decision—which originally affirmed hanging as constitutional—to a larger panel. The court stated that no sufficient case had been made to reconsider the statutory provisions governing death by hanging under Section 354 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Section 393(5) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
Door Left Open For Scientific Scrutiny
Despite refusing the reference, the judges explicitly clarified that their ruling does not permanently block future legal challenges. The bench noted that constitutional interpretation is an organic process that must adapt to evolving legal principles and modern scientific knowledge.
Future constitutional scrutiny remains possible should compelling empirical, medical, or scientific evidence emerge showing that the factual basis underlying the 1983 judgment has been rendered outdated by new developments.
Government Free To Form Expert Panel
The court highlighted that nothing in its decision prevents the Union government from conducting a comprehensive review of current execution methods.
It noted that the government could establish an expert advisory body featuring specialists across neuroscience, forensic medicine, criminology, law, and related fields. Such a panel could study whether alternative modes of execution might better fulfill the constitutional mandate of reducing unnecessary pain while maintaining human dignity.
Petitioner Challenged Method As Barbaric
The legal challenge was filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra, who argued that execution by hanging is a cruel, barbaric, and inhuman procedure that violates international resolutions.
Comparing execution methods, Malhotra stated that death by intravenous lethal injection takes no longer than five minutes, whereas execution by hanging requires at least 40 minutes to complete.
