SC rejects plea to replace hanging with less painful method for death penalty

New Delhi: SC has dismissed a plea seeking to replace hanging with a less painful method for execution of the death sentence.

A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, however, clarified that this judgment was not the final word on the subject and that the central government was free to examine it scientifically.

The judgment came on a plea filed by senior advocate Rishi Malhotra in 2017, challenging the constitutionality of Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (now replaced by Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita), which provided for hanging till death.


SC said it was "not persuaded that a case has been made out" for referring the decision of a three-judge bench upholding the constitutional validity of death by hanging to a larger bench for the reconsideration. The issue may be examined in future if compelling scientific evidence is produced regarding alternative ways to carry out the death sentence, it said.