Death Penalty News

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to scrap hanging as the method of executing the death penalty, but said the issue can be looked at again if new scientific or medical evidence shows that another method causes less pain. The court also said the Centre can set up an expert panel to examine whether another method of execution would reduce pain and protect the dignity of death row prisoners. Why was a plea filed against hanging as a method of execution? The petition was filed by senior advocate Rishi Malhotra, who challenged the law that provides for hanging as the method of executing a death sentence, according to a LiveLaw report. Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure says that a person sentenced to death should be "hanged by the neck till he is dead." Malhotra's plea sought to replace hanging with other methods, including lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or a gas chamber. He argued that hanging can cause prolonged pain and suffering and violates...

Indiana law says that the press has no right to be present when the state carries out executions. It limits those who can attend to the warden of the prison where the execution is carried out, immediate family members of the crime victim, no more than five friends or relatives of the convicted person, the prison physician, and the prison chaplain. Only if an inmate selects a member of the press as one of the five friends may they attend.

The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a plea seeking a painless procedure for death convicts other than hanging. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta has reserved their judgment after hearing Attorney General for India R Venkataramani, Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora (for Project 39A), and Advocate Rishi Malhotra, who is the petitioner. In 2023, the Supreme Court had allowed an intervention application filed by National Law University, Delhi's Project 39A in the plea seeking a painless procedure for death convicts.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (October 15) said that the Centre appeared hesitant to replace hanging with lethal injection as a method of executing death row inmates. It was hearing a plea that argued execution by hanging is ‘inhuman and cruel’. India is among the few countries where capital punishment remains legal. What are the methods of execution used by other countries? India is debating the method of execution for death row convicts. The Supreme Court is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to provide an alternative to death by hanging.

New Delhi: The central government on Tuesday submitted before Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud-led bench of the Supreme Court that it is considering appointment of an expert committee to examine whether a less painful method of execution of convicts sentenced to death, than hanging by neck which is the practice now, could be found. Following this submission by Attorney General R Venkataramani, Supreme Court bench deferred the hearing on the petition to July. Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by Supreme Court advocate Rishi Malhotra seeking painless end for death convicts. The petition by Malhotra suggests replacing hanging with intravenous lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or gas chamber.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has reopened a decades-old debate over whether there can be a more humane and dignified way of executing the death penalty. The Supreme Court on Tuesday (March 21) asked the Centre to defend the law that allows hanging by the neck as a mode of execution.  Attorney General for India (AG) A R Venkataramani agreed to seek instructions from the government before the court sets up a committee to examine the issue. A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud is essentially reopening a decades-old debate over whether there can be a more humane and dignified way of executing the death penalty.

Three death row inmates in Japan are seeking an injunction against their executions, claiming the death penalty by hanging is cruel and unconstitutional. The three convicts held at the Osaka Detention House in western Japan filed a lawsuit demanding such an injunction.  They were convicted more than a decade ago. Two are seeking a retrial. Article 11 of Japan's Penal Code stipulates, "The death penalty is executed by hanging at a penal institution." In the lawsuit filed with the Osaka District Court, the convicts claim that execution by hanging is cruel and inhumane, and violates the International Covenants on Human Rights. The three also claim it violates Article 36 of Japan's Constitution, which forbids cruel punishment. In addition to an injunction, the inmates are seeking compensation from the state for the years of dread they have suffered since they were handed the death sentence. The convicts note that the method of execution in Japan has not changed in 140 yea...

A decade after looking at options to replace death by hanging with a 'more humane' way, ministry says no such proposal being examined. About a decade after the Centre started looking at various options, including lethal injection, to find a 'more humane' way to replace death by hanging for convicts awarded death penalty by the courts, the process seems to have been discarded without any decision being taken. In a cryptic response to an RTI application filed by ThePrint asking what progress, if any, had been made on the proposal to replace the system of administering death through, what many call gruesome, hanging, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said, "...It is stated that at present there is no such issue (of giving death through a means other than hanging) being examined in this Ministry." History of demand Under Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the mode of execution of death sentence is hanging till death. ...

Although the law commission report discussed whether the discretion of mode of execution should lie with the judge or the convict, the question of who would provide the injections to convicts remains unanswered. A lawyer had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of a provision in the Criminal Procedure Code which provides that the mode of execution of death penalty would be hanging by the neck. The SC, however, said that it's the Centre's prerogative to decide the modes of carrying out capital punishment. "We can't say what should be the mode of carrying out a death sentence. Tell us what is happening in other countries," the apex court asked the Centre. In its reply, the Centre said lethal injection was "not workable" as there were several instances of it failing. Rishi Malhotra, the petitioner, said the provision of Criminal Procedure Code stating death penalty is "violative of Article 21 (right t...

The Government has claimed that hanging is the most workable mode and lethal injection method is found to have failed on many occasions in different parts of the world, hence it is not as workable as hanging. In a response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking abolition of executing death row convict by hanging the Supreme Court recently held that it was the prerogative of the Government to decide on modes of execution of convicts. Execution of convicts is provided under section 354(5) of Cr.P.C. 1973 which says, 'When any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead.' The Court had asked the Centre to respond to a notice issued by the Court however, it had also said that the legislature could think of changing the law so that a convict facing death penalty dies in peace and not in pain. The Government has claimed that hanging is the most workable mode and lethal injection method is found to have faile...

A court has turned down attempts by 2 death row prisoners who wanted the way death sentences are carried out to be changed. A 2-judge bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Justice Roohul Amin and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan on Thursday dismissed petitions filed by 2 death row prisoners who have challenged the penalty of "hanging till death" and instead asked for a 'less painful' mode of execution in accordance with modern scientific developments. The petitioners, Jan Bahadur and Gul Wali, on death row at the Haripur prison for the past 20 years, had challenged hangings. "Hanging to death is unIslamic and unconstitutional," Khurshid Khan, the lawyer for the petitioners, told the court. He insisted that it was painful and against human values. "If you are punishing them according to the English law, why do you not execute them through a modern mode?" he asked, noting that the prisoners preferred to have their sentence car...

Govt opposes lethal injection and shooting as alternative methods of execution Tribune News Service, New Delhi, January 9 - The NDA government on Tuesday opposed use of lethal injection to execute a death row convict, saying it “was not workable”. During hearing of a PIL filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra, Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand told a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra that hanging by the neck was the most viable method to execute a death row convict. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra wondered how the court could decide the mode of execution. It asked the Centre to file its response spelling out its stand on the contentious issue in four weeks. It said the government affidavit should have details about various modes of execution in other parts of the world. In his PIL filed in September last year, Malhotra has sought abolition of the practice of hanging by the neck followed in India. Alternative meth...