Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of Hanging as Mode of Execution, Declines to Reconsider Deena

Case Snapshot

• Case Name: Rishi Malhotra & Anr. v. Union of India

• Citation: 2026 INSC 873

• Bench: Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta

• Date of Judgment: August 18, 2026

• Area of Law: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Capital Punishment, Article 21

The Judgment in One Line

Supreme Court upholds hanging as constitutional mode of execution, declines to refer Deena to larger Bench for lack of compelling evidence.

Why This Judgment Matters

This is a significant constitutional judgment reaffirming the validity of hanging as the sole mode of execution under Section 354(5) CrPC / Section 393(5) BNSS. The Court has declined to reconsider the three-Judge Bench decision in Deena v. Union of India (1983), which held that hanging does not violate Article 21. The judgment examines the historical evolution of execution methods, scientific evidence on hanging, and international practices. It also considered lethal injection as an alternative but found it equally uncertain and problematic. The Court's observation that future constitutional scrutiny may be possible if compelling scientific evidence emerges leaves the door open for reconsideration in the future.

Background

The petitioner filed a Public Interest Litigation under Article 32 challenging the constitutional validity of Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (corresponding to Section 393(5) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023), which prescribes hanging by the neck as the sole method of execution of death sentence. The petitioner contended that hanging is bar

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