The Supreme Court on Tuesday proposed the formation of an expert committee to investigate whether death by hanging is the most appropriate and painless method of carrying out the death penalty.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha asked Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani to provide information on whether there is any data or study being conducted on the impact and pain caused during hanging death and whether it is the most suitable method available today.
“Come back to us, Mr. AG, and we should have better data on the impact of death by hanging, the pain caused and the time it takes for such death to occur, and the availability of resources to carry out such hanging by death. Is today’s science suggesting that this is the best method, or is there another method that is better suited to upholding human dignity?” The Court asked the AG.
“If the Centre has not conducted this study, we can form a committee comprised of experts from two national law universities, such as NLU Delhi, Bangalore, or Hyderabad, as well as doctors from AIIMS, distinguished citizens from across the country, and scientific experts,” the Court stated.
We may still come to the conclusion that death by hanging is appropriate, but we need to be supported by research, according to the bench.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra to replace hanging with less painful methods such as injection or electrocution.
According to the petition, the Law Commission noted in its 187th Report that there has been a significant increase in the number of countries where hanging has been abolished and electrocution, shooting, or lethal injection has been used as a method of execution.
“It had categorically opined that hanging is unquestionably accompanied by intense physical torture and pain,” the plea stated.
Malhotra argued in person that the Indian practise of hanging until death is cruel and inhumane.
According to Justice Narasimha, there should be dignity in death and it should be as painless as possible, and hanging appeared to meet both criteria.
“Both of these conditions appear to be met by hanging. Does lethal injection meet this requirement? According to the Union government, it was discovered in the United States that lethal injection does not result in immediate death,” he stated.
“Have you investigated anecdotal incidents of lethal injection? If the patient is obese, he or she will struggle to die, “CJI Chandrachud spoke out.
“No process is full proof. We have to compare it to hanging,” Malhotra said.
“There is strong evidence in the United States that the pain caused by lethal injection is real. I read a lot on this side,” CJI stated.
“There are very few hangmen available, and such hangmen are called from Calcutta, Mumbai, and other places for a hanging in Delhi,” Malhotra explained.
On May 2, the Court posted the case for further consideration, asking the AG to provide details about the hanging method of death.
“We have to see if this method meets the proportionality test or if there is another method that can be used so that death by hanging can be declared unconstitutional,” the bench remarked.
