Case Law Analysis
|Supreme Court of India
Section 354(5) CrPC | Hanging Retained as Constitutional Execution Method; Deena Precedent Reaffirmed : SC
The Supreme Court dismissed a PIL challenging hanging as the sole mode of execution, reaffirming the Constitution Bench ruling in Deena v. Union of India (1983) that Section 354(5) CrPC (now Section 393(5) BNSS) does not violate Article 21. The Court held that absent empirical evidence of botched executions or proven superiority of lethal injection, the legislative choice of execution method stands.