Dignity In Death: Debate Over 'Humane' Execution, Pg11

Key Highlights:

• The Supreme Court recently upheld the constitutional validity of execution by hanging as a method of carrying out the death sentence in India.
• The Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that argued hanging violates the right to a dignified death under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• The decision reaffirmed the 1983 precedent set in Deena vs. Union of India, which had upheld hanging as a constitutional mode of execution.
• The Court also noted Parliament's decision to retain hanging in the newly enacted Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), specifically under Section 393(5).
• While dismissing the petition, the bench clarified that the issue is not permanently closed and could be revisited if compelling new scientific or empirical evidence emerges.

Detailed Insights:

• Petitioners challenged hanging, citing studies suggesting it is scientifically unreliable, causes prolonged suffering, and is inherently unpredictable.
• The Supreme Court found no sufficient material to displace the basis of the Deena vs. Union of India judgment, which concluded that hanging causes no greater pain than other known methods.
• The Union government argued that hanging is the "safest and quickest" method, noting no botched executions in India, unlike documented failures with lethal injection in the US.
• The Court acknowledged the evolving nature of constitutional law and suggested that the Union government could examine alternative execution methods through an expert body.
• The right to die with dignity is an integral part of the right to life under Article 21, as affirmed in Gian Kaur v State of Punjab (1996), though it does not include the right to commit suicide.
• Globally, various methods of execution exist, including lethal injection, shooting, beheading, and the recently introduced nitrogen hypoxia.
• Capital punishment in India is applied only in the "rarest of rare cases," a doctrine established by the Supreme Court in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980).

Key Concepts Involved:

• Article 21: Guarantees the protection of life and personal liberty, broadly interpreted to include the right to live with human dignity.
• Right to die with dignity: An aspect of Article 21 that allows for a dignified end to life, distinct from the right to commit suicide.
• Capital Punishment: The legal infliction of death as a punishment for serious crimes, permissible in India under the "rarest of rare" doctrine.
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS): The new criminal procedure code in India, which retains hanging as the prescribed method of execution under Section 393(5).