SC rejects plea to replace hanging as execution mode

The dismissal of the present writ petition must not be understood as foreclosing future scrutiny. Constitutional interpretation is organic and must remain responsive, both to the evolution of constitutional doctrine and to advances in scientific knowledgeNEW DELHI: Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking to replace the present mechanism of execution by hanging with alternatives like the lethal injection.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said there was no scientific material to back the claim that hanging as a mode of execution was physically painful and physiologically traumatic in comparison to other methods, and refused to pass any directive on a petition filed by senior advocate Rishi Malhotra. The court left it to the Centre to take a call on the issue in future