Rishi Malhotra v. Union of India

Constitution of India — Article 21 — Right to Die with Dignity — Capital Punishment — Mode of Execution — Hanging by the neck — Challenge to Constitutional Validity — Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — Section 354(5) (now BNSS 393) — Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Section 393(5) — Precedent — Principle of Stare Decisis — Comparative Jurisprudence — Judicial Restraint.

This judgment regarding a legal challenge to the constitutionality of execution by hanging. The petitioner argued that hanging is a barbaric and cruel method that violates the right to die with dignity under Article 21, suggesting lethal injection as a more humane alternative. However, the Court dismissed the petition, maintaining that the current method remains a valid legislative policy and that no scientific evidence proves alternative methods are demonstrably superior or painless. The ruling emphasizes the principle of stare decisis, upholding a forty-year-old precedent while noting that the uniformity of hanging avoids the arbitrary risks seen in foreign execution experiments. While the Court refused to strike down the law, it clarified that the Executive remains free to review and modernize execution methods as science evolves. Ultimately, the judgment confirms that hanging remains the sole legal method for capital punishment in India under the new criminal statutes.