NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to apprise it about modes of executing death row prisoners in other countries, but the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra made it clear that the apex court would not decide what should be the mode of execution in India.
"We cannot say what should be the mode. Tell us what is happening in other countries," the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.
Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, representing the Centre, said it was working on other methods that could be used for capital punishment in place of hanging and sought time.
The Centre said lethal injections had been tested, but they “are not workable as there are instances of it failing”.
The court adjourned the plea for four weeks and asked the Centre to file a detailed affidavit specifying its stand on the issue.
The PIL filed by lawyer Rishi Malhotra in his plea contended that the 187th Report of the Law Commission advocated the removal of the present mode of execution from the statute.
He also referred to Article 21 (Right to Life) and said it included the right of a condemned prisoner to have a dignified mode of execution so that death becomes less painful.
The PIL had listed intravenous lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or gas chamber as other viable options.
On October 6 last year, the court had sought the Centre's reply on the plea, filed in personal capacity by lawyer Rishi Malhotra, which referred to Article 21 (Right to Life) of the Constitution and said it also included the right of condemned prisoner to have a dignified mode of execution so that death becomes less painful.
The plea has said the Law Commission report had noted a significant increase in the number of countries where hanging has been abolished and substituted by electrocution, shooting or lethal injection as methods of execution.
It said "dying with dignity is part of right to life" and the present practice of executing a death row convict by hanging involves "prolonged pain and suffering".
The present procedure can be replaced with intravenous lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or gas chamber in which death is just a matter of minutes, it said.
The PIL has sought to quash of section 354(5) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that when a person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that the condemned prisoner be hanged by the neck till death.
It has sought to declare "right to die by a dignified procedure of death as a fundamental right as defined under Article 21 of the Constitution".
Drawing a comparison, the petition has said that while in hanging, the entire execution process takes over 40 minutes to declare prisoner dead, the shooting process involved not more than a few minutes. In case of intravenous lethal injection, it is all over in 5 minutes.
(with PTI inputs)