Four decades after approving hanging by the neck as a method of execution for death row inmates, the Supreme Court agreed to reexamine the method's legality on two grounds: the 1983 ruling did not apply the "test of proportionality," and significant scientific advancements over that period of time have made it necessary to look for a less painful execution method.
Taking up a six-year-old PIL by advocate Rishi Malhotra, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said, “We will look at two perspectives: first, is there any alternative method, far more consistent with human dignity, to render ‘hanging by the neck’ unconstitutional; and second, even if there is no alternative method, does ‘hanging by the neck’ method satisfy the test of proportionality so as to render it valid, an issue that was not addressed in the Deena judgment at all.”
Section 354 (5) of the CrPC, which stated that "when any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck until he is dead," was upheld by a bench composed of then-CJI Y V Chandrachud, justices RS Pathak, and Sabyasachi Mukharji (who would later both become CJIs).
The SC’s decision to take a fresh look at the validity of the ‘hanging by neck’ method of execution could possibly be a step towards virtual abolition of the death penalty from CrPC, which came into existence in 1888, and was amended in 1898 and again in 1973.