New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging death by hanging as the method of execution in capital punishment cases, while making it clear that the issue could be reconsidered in the future if new medical or scientific evidence warrants constitutional scrutiny.

A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta delivered the judgment on a PIL filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra, which challenged the existing method of executing death row prisoners.

The court, however, clarified that dismissal of the petition would not prevent a future constitutional challenge if compelling medical or scientific evidence emerges showing that the method of hanging needs to be reconsidered.

The judgment also leaves the Union Government free to undertake a comprehensive review of the execution method through an expert body. Such a review could examine whether an alternative method would better meet the constitutional objective of minimising pain and suffering while preserving the dignity of the condemned prisoner.

The petition had challenged Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides that when a person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that the prisoner “be hanged by the neck till he is dead.”

Malhotra’s PIL sought the abolition of hanging as the existing method of execution, arguing that it involves “prolonged pain and suffering”.

The petition proposed replacing hanging with other methods, including intravenous lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or a gas chamber, through which a convict could die within a matter of minutes.

(This is a developing story)