India’s Supreme court rules out lethal injection as alternative to hanging method of capital punishment
The court also ruled out shooting by firing squad as an alternative to hanging till death method of capital punishment
India may soon review if ‘hanging by death’ is the correct mode of execution for the death row convicts. The development comes after the Supreme Court of India, while taking up a six-year-old Public Interest Litigation (PIL), expressed the need to examine whether ‘hanging by death’ is a proportionate and less painful method for executing death row convicts. It sought “better data” from the Union government on issues related to the mode of execution. At the end of 2022, a total of 53 countries have retained capital punishment, including India, United States, South Africa, all countries in West Asia and some countries in South-East Asia as well as western Africa.
In March 2020, India executed four individuals convicted for brutal sexual assault of a 22-year-old paramedical student in New Delhi in 2012, that came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya case’ or ’16 December case’, after the date of the crime. The four convicts in Nirbhaya case were the last persons to be executed in India.
India capital punishment method rejig: What did the Supreme Court say?
On March 21, a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “We will look at two perspectives: first, is there any alternative method, far more consistent with human dignity, to render ‘hanging by the neck’ unconstitutional; and second, even if there is no alternative method, does ‘hanging by the neck’ method satisfy the test of proportionality so as to render it valid, an issue that was not addressed in the Deena judgement at all.”
The court also ruled out shooting by firing squad as an alternative to hanging till death method of capital punishment.
It also ruled out electric chair or lethal injection as alternative methods for execution, saying reports indicate convicts experiencing severe pain and there are many instances of goof up.
India’s death penalty methods: The law and relevant court judgment
In 1983, India’s Supreme Court, in a case called ‘Deena Vs Union of India, validated Section 354 (5) of Criminal Procedure Code, which lays out the method for executing a convict’s death penalty. The relevant part reads: “When any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead.”
Incidentally, the 1983 judgement was headed by then Chief Justice of India Y.V. Chandrachud, father of present CJI D.Y. Chandrachud who pointed out the supposed inconsistencies of 1983 judgement with respect to human dignity of a death row convict.
India’s death penalty method: What next?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will place before the Supreme Court the government’s view on the matter by the end of May.
The Public Interest Litigation filed in 2017 seeks to abolish the present practice of execution and replace it with less painful methods such as “intravenous lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or gas chamber”.
