NEW DELHI: The legal mode of executing a death row convict came under the scanner of the Supreme Court which sought the government’s response on a plea seeking setting aside of the legal provision.
The observation comes 34 years after the court had upheld the legal validity of the provision of hanging as the mode of execution of a death sentence and refused to strike down Section 354 (5) of the CrPC.
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 is less painful.
The practice of death by hanging is prevalent in 60 countries. The plea noted that there was a significant increase in the number of countries where hanging has been abolished and electrocution, shooting by a firing squad or lethal injection was the method of execution.