New Delhi: The Supreme Court has been moved on Wednesday for a direction to stop the execution of death sentence of a convict by ‘hanging’ as it is a cruel form of death inflicting pain and injury and violated one’s right to die with dignity.
In a writ petition, advocate Rishi Malhotra challenged the method of Execution of Death sentence in India i.e. by hanging by neck till the prisoner is dead. It said execution as contemplated u/s 354(5) CrPC is not only barbaric, inhuman and cruel but also against the Resolutions adopted by the United Nations Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC), which had categorically resolved by way of safeguard, viz “where the capital punishment occurs it should be carried out so as to inflict minimum suffering”.
It said the execution should be as quick and as simple as possible and free from anything that unnecessarily sharpens the poignancy of the prisoner’s apprehension. It should produce immediate unconsciousness passing quickly into the death. It should be decent and should not involve mutilation of the body.
The petitioner pointed out that the Law Commission of India in its 35th report concluded that developed as well as developing countries have replaced the execution by hanging by the intravenous lethal injection or by shooting, which is the most acceptable and humane method of executing death sentence involving less pain and suffering to a condemned prisoner. The petitioner has urged the SC to direct the Centre to execute a convict by any method other than hanging for a peaceful death.
