On August 18, the Supreme Court (SC) reaffirmed an archaic status quo. By dismissing a petition to replace hanging with more advanced methods — such as lethal injection, shooting, or electrocution — the Court underscored a startling paradox in modern jurisprudence. It allowed the Union government room to examine whether scientific advances offer a more dignified method of execution; yet for now, it anchored Indian law to the 19th-century ritual of the hemp rope under Section 393(5) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

There is a biting irony here. We are a nuclear-capable, spacefaring, 1.4 billion strong nation that can land rovers on the lunar south pole, yet we require a high-level committee to determine if breaking a human being’s neck with a rope is “painful”. By focussing on the mechanics of the kill, the SC avoids the more urgent constitutional mandate that any procedure depriving life must be fair, just, and reasonable.

The enactment of the BNSS in 2023 was marketed as a grand decolonisation of laws in India. Yet, Section 393(5) preserved the 1860 colonial method of execution in entirety. This sits in direct........

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