{
  "id": 1661230,
  "title": "Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Replace Death By Hanging With 'Less Painful' Methods",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/supreme-court-rejects-plea-to-replace-death-by-hanging-with-less",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-18T07:07:40.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/supreme-court-rejects-plea-to-replace-death-by-hanging-with-less-painful-methods"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Supreme Court dismissed a plea on Tuesday to replace death by hanging with less painful methods like lethal injection, stating there was no compelling reason to reconsider the constitutionality of hanging under Section 354 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Section 393(5) of the Arms Act. The ruling by Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta did not rule out the possibility of revisiting the issue in the future if new scientific evidence emerged regarding alternative methods of execution. The lawyer representing the petition, Rishi Malhotra, argued that hanging was an extremely painful and inhumane method, while the Centre's attorney general noted that a committee had been established to examine the matter. The court expressed frustration that the government was not prepared to modify the current practice, which has been in place for a long time and may not align with contemporary standards.",
  "summary": "New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition seeking to replace death by hanging with other \"less painful\" alternatives such as lethal injection. The ruling was passed by a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta. A Bench also declined to refer earlier judgments to a larger Bench. \"We are not persuaded that a case has been made out for referring the decision of the…",
  "key_points": [
    "Supreme Court rejects plea to replace hanging with less painful execution methods.",
    "No compelling reason found to reconsider constitutionality of hanging.",
    "Committee established to examine alternative execution methods."
  ],
  "editors_take": "The Supreme Court's dismissal of the plea to replace death by hanging with less painful methods maintains the status quo on execution methods, leaving open a potential future review with new evidence.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}