SC Questions Centre’s Stand Against Lethal Injection for Death Row Convicts

New Delhi: The problem is that the government is not ready to improve, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said after the Center said it may not be “highly possible” to give death row convicts the option of choosing lethal injection as the method of execution. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing a plea seeking removal of the current method of executing death row convicts by hanging from the law.

Senior advocate Rishi Malhotra, who filed the petition, said that at least a convicted prisoner should be given a choice whether he wants hanging or lethal injection as the method of execution.

“I will show that the best way is lethal injection because 49 out of 50 states in the USA have adopted lethal injection,” Malhotra said. he said.

He said the execution by lethal injection was quick, humane and reasonable compared to hanging, which was cruel and barbaric as the body was suspended on the rope for about 40 minutes.

Justice Mehta suggested the lawyer representing the Center to advise the government on Malhotra’s proposal to provide an option to the death row convict.

“This situation is also stated on the bench, it may not be possible to offer an option to this,” the center’s lawyer said.

Justice Mehta observed: “The problem is that the government is not prepared to evolve with time… Everything has changed with time.”

The Centre’s lawyer stated in the counter affidavit that it was said that this was a policy decision and the government could take a call in this regard.

The lawyer referred to the decision of the top court on the issue in May 2023.

In this order, the bench had noted the statement of Solicitor General R Venkataramani that the government was considering appointment of a committee to review the issues sought to be raised in the matter.

The centre’s counsel said they would seek instructions from the government on what happened regarding the committee.

The court sent the matter to further hearing on November 11.

In March 2023, the apex court had said it may consider constituting an expert committee to examine whether execution of death row convicts by hanging is proportionate and less painful, and sought “better data” from the Center on issues related to the manner of execution.

However, the bench had made it clear that it could not direct the legislature to adopt a particular method of punishing convicted convicts.

Malhotra had filed the PIL in 2017, demanding that the current practice of executing a death row convict by hanging be abolished and instead adopt less painful methods such as “intravenous lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or gas chamber”.

In 2018, the Center strongly supported the legal provision that a prisoner sentenced to death would be executed only by hanging, and told the bench that other methods of execution such as lethal injection and firing were no less painful.

The counter-affidavit filed by the joint secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs said death by hanging was “quick, simple” and free of anything that would “unnecessarily sharpen the suffering of the prisoner”.

The affidavit was filed in response to the PIL citing the Law Commission’s 187th Report, which advocated deletion of the present mode of execution from the law.