SC asks govt. for data on death by hanging and a possible alternative mode of execution

A Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha urged government to see if there was a more "humane" method of execution that would render death by hanging unconstitutional

The Supreme Court on March 21 asked the Centre to provide data which may point to a more dignified, less painful and socially acceptable method of executing prisoners other than death by hanging.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha even mooted the setting up of an expert committee to relook at India's method of putting to death its criminals.

The Chief Justice said such a committee would have experts from the national law universities, professors of law, doctors and scientific persons.

The Court indicated to the Centre, represented by Attorney General R. Venkataramani, that it needed some underlying data based on which it could examine if there was a more "humane" method of execution which would render death by hanging unconstitutional.

"If we have to relook death by hanging, we need better data… We want to know the impact of the sentence of death by hanging, the pain caused, the period of actual death and the availability of resources for hanging a person," Chief Justice Chandrachud observed.

ALSO READ | In 2022, 165 death penalties handed out by trial courts, highest since 2000