The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the petition to end the current system of capital punishment. The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said that at present there is no basis to declare the hanging unconstitutional. In the petition, the hanging was described as cruel, inhuman and painful. Instead, there was a demand for death penalty through four alternative methods like poisonous injection and shooting. The court said that its decision does not stop the central government from reviewing the case. The government can investigate alternative and less painful methods of hanging through an expert committee. It was said in the petition – Less painful methods should be adopted. Senior lawyer Rishi Malhotra had filed this petition in 2017. He had told that the process of hanging could take more than 40 minutes, whereas it was claimed that the shooting would take a few minutes and the poisonous injection would take about 5 minutes. The petition sought to declare Section 354(5) of CrPC unconstitutional. Under this section, a death sentence convict is hanged by the neck until he dies. The petitioner said this was against the right to life and dignity guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution. Malhotra had also said that a death row prisoner should be given the option to choose between hanging and poisonous injection. The Center had called hanging as a ‘quick and easy’ method. In 2018, the Center had defended the existing system. The Home Ministry had said in the affidavit that death by hanging is quick and easy and does not unnecessarily increase the suffering of the prisoner. The Center had also refused to consider methods like poisonous injections and shooting as less painful. SC asked for data on the method of hanging. In March 2023, the Supreme Court had asked for better data from the Center on the pain caused by hanging, the time taken for death and the arrangements related to it. The court had also considered forming an expert committee to investigate the issue. In May 2023, Attorney General R. Venkataramani had said that he has recommended forming an expert committee to examine better alternatives to death penalty. The central government was considering the members of the committee. Famous cases in which death penalty and hanging were debated
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सुप्रीम कोर्ट में फांसी सिस्टम खत्म करने की याचिका खारिज: मौत के लिए जहरीले इंजेक्शन या गोली मारने जैसे तरीकों की मांग की गई थी
