Hanging to death: Apex court to examine mode of execution

‘Hang by the neck till death.’

This legal mode of executing a death row convict today came under the scanner of the Supreme Court which sought the government’s response on a plea seeking setting aside of the legal provision.

Terming the Constitution as a “compassionate” and “organic” guiding book, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the legislature can think of changing the law so that a convict, facing death penalty, dies “in peace and not in pain“.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, issued notice to the Centre and sought its response within three weeks on the PIL, which also referred to the 187th Report of the Law Commission advocating removal of the present mode of execution from the statute.

Lawyer Rishi Malhotra, who filed the PIL in his personal capacity, referred to Article 21 (Right to Life) of the Constitution and said it also included the right of a condemned prisoner to have a dignified mode of execution so that death becomes less painful.

The plea said the Law Commission in its 187th Report had noted that there was a significant increase in the number of countries where hanging has been abolished and substituted by electrocution, shooting or lethal injection as the method of execution.

“It had categorically opined that hanging is undoubtedly accompanied by intense physical torture and pain,” the plea said.

The lawyer also referred to various apex court judgements in which the practise of hanging a death row convict has been assailed.

The plea said “dying with dignity is part of right of life” and the present practice of executing a death row convict by hanging involves “prolonged pain and suffering“.

The present procedure can be replaced with intravenous lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or gas chamber in which death is just a matter of minutes, it said.

The PIL sought quashing of section 354(5) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that when a person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead.

It said that execution was not only “barbaric, inhuman and cruel”, but also against the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The plea also said that execution should be as quick and as simple as possible and free from anything that unnecessarily sharpens the poignancy of the prisoner’s apprehension.

It sought to declare “right to die by a dignified procedure of death as a fundamental right as defined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India“.

“This also includes the right to a dignified life up to the point of death including a dignified procedure of death.

In other words, this may include the right of a dying man to also die with dignity when his life is ebbing out,” it added.

Drawing a comparison, the petition said that while in hanging, the entire execution process takes over 40 minutes to declare prisoner to be dead, the shooting process involves not more than few minutes. In case of intravenous lethal injection, it is all over in 5 minutes.

“The Act of the execution should produce immediate unconsciousness passing quickly into the death. It should be decent. It should not involve mutilation,” the plea added.

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