Many State Governments in India recommend for Lethal Injection instead of Hanging Till Death in Capital Punishment

In India, now, under Section 354(5) of the “Criminal Procedures Code Act -1973”, the mode of execution of death sentence/the capital punishment is “hanging till death”.In many countries of the world, the capital punishment/death has been removed or the mode of execution of death punishment has been shifted from hanging till death to lethal injection and electric chair death with reduced physical pain to the convict.

In India, there has been different opinions from various forums and people in general, about removal of the capital punishment.

Some people agree that removal of death punishment may not be possible totally, in view of “Terrorist Activities” killing thousands of people mercilessly. Why to consider at all ‘Mercy Petition’ for Merciless Killers?

However, under humanitarian grounds it is widely suggested to execute the capital punishment of death even after the Mercy Petition/s at various levels are declined, the mode of death may be with less or no physical pain to the convict.

It is notable that the Law Commission of India, in October 2003 had also recommended that the law be amended to provide for an alternative mode of execution of death sentence by lethal injection until the accused is dead.However, when the matter was being discussed by the Commission, women organisations were opposed to any move to do away with death penalty, holding if this were to happen, rapists and murderers would get emboldened.

Nowadays, and many State Governments in India, such as:-

• Chhattisgarh,
• Goa,
• Haryana,
• Himachal Pradesh,
• Punjab,
• Rajasthan,
• Uttar Pradesh,
• Kerala,
• Tamilnadu,
• Orissa and
• Delhi.

have started suggesting the Central Government to stop death punishment by hanging and go for lethal injection for executing the capital punishment.Many Indian States have recommended that when cases involving death penalty come up before the Supreme Court of India, they should be decided by a bench comprising at least five judges. For this, the states want the Supreme Court rules to be suitably amended.

The Tamil Nadu State Government has said that the capital punishment/death should be completely done away with as is the case in many countries worldwide.

The government of Kerala, has suggested that ‘cyanide’ could be administered to put the convict to death. (The Terrorists are said to use the same for killing themselves instead of getting arrested by the Police.)