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Informist, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Tuesday upheld the constitutional validity of death by hanging in India and rejected a plea seeking a less painful method to carry out capital punishment. The top court said it was not persuaded that a case has been made with reference to its earlier decision on the death penalty to a larger Bench for reconsideration of the constitutional validity of Sections 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or Section 393(5) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

 

Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure mandates that when any person is sentenced to death, the court judgment must direct that the person be hanged by the neck till they are dead. Section 393(5) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 is the corresponding provision for the death penalty in the current law. In its landmark 1983 decision, the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutional validity of execution by hanging under the Code of Criminal Procedure, ruling that it does not violate Article 21 of the Constitution. 

 

The apex court Tuesday clarified that the dismissal of the challenge must not be understood as foreclosing future constitutional scrutiny should any compelling scientific, medical, or empirical evidence emerge, demonstrating that the factual and scientific basis on which its earlier decision on the death penalty has been materially displaced by subsequent developments. Constitutional interpretation is organic and must remain responsive both to the evolution of constitutional doctrine and to the advances in scientific knowledge, the top court said.

 

The apex court said nothing contained in its judgment shall preclude the Centre from considering it appropriate to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing method of execution through an expert body comprising specialists in law, forensic medicine, neuroscience, criminology, and allied disciplines. The Centre can examine whether any alternative method of execution better serves the constitutional objective of minimising unnecessary pain while preserving the dignity of the condemned prisoners, said the court.

 

The apex court was hearing a plea by advocate Rishi Malhotra to do away with death by hanging and instead adopt a comparatively painless method like injection or electrocution. The petitioner said the course of events in other countries showed that hanging was slowly being abandoned as a method of executing the death penalty. When a person was hanged, his dignity stood lost and that dignity, even in death, was necessary, the petitioner said.  End 

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Shubhayan Bhattacharya

 

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