Counsel: Please see, I've shown that when a person goes for hanging, what process he goes through-
"The slightest error in the drop can result in lingering of the hang."
Counsel: The body of the condemner should be left hanging for half an hour till the medical practitioner says that he has no life- this is absolutely cruel.
Counsel: Please see the Dinanath judgement. The challenge was way back in 1984. The petitioners were death convicts. The question was concerning the validity of way of death. The petitioners said that hanging is cruel and barbaric.
Adv Rishi Malhotra cites the dissenting judgement of Justice Bhagwati in Bachchan Singh.
"If the drop is too short, there will be a slow and agonising death by strangulation. On the other hand, if the drop is too long, the head will be torn off."
Malhotra: In 1927, a surgeon who witnessed execution wrote- The bodies were cut down after fifteen minutes and placed in an antechamber, when I was horrified to hear one of the supposed corpses give a gasp and find him making respiratory efforts, evidently a prelude to revival.
Justice Narasimha: Question of dignity is not under contest. Even the issue of min amount of pain is not in contest. Question which remains is what does science offer? Does it offer lethal injections? The judgement says no. In America it was found lethal injection was not right
CJI DY Chandrachud: What does the scientific knowledge offer to us now?
CJI : We cannot tell the legislature that you adopt this method. But you can certainly argue that something may be more humane. Shooting this bench specifically rejected. Have you read the anecdotal evidence for lethal injections?
CJI DY Chandrachud: On what basis does the law commission say that lethal injection is not a lingering death? There has been great divergences on what chemicals are to be used too. What research is there?
CJI DY Chandrachud: There is another way to look at Bachan Singh. There is no mode of execution which will have dignity in death. So mode of execution itself is unconstitutional. So if you cannot have a valid mode of execution...
CJI DY Chandrachud: When a death penalty is executed, it's executed in the presence of district magistrate and superintendent, ofcourse there may be some report. What do these reports of these officers say? Do they indicate the extent of prisoners?
CJI DY Chandrachud: Second, regarding shooting- they rejected it because they said shooting is the favourite pastime of militaries and they shoot citizens for sport so shooting is barbaric...
CJI DY Chandrachud: We can look at the matter from the point of view of technology and science - does today's stage of knowledge says hanging is the best way?
CJI DY Chandrachud: Third, do we have any data either in India or overseas regarding alternate methods. Or do we form a committee? We're just thinking. We can have National Law Universities on the committee. @NLUDofficial has some eminent people.
CJI DY Chandrachud: So we can have perspective on alternate method. Or we can see- does this method satisfy the test of proportionality for it to be upheld?
Complainant, Ankit’s father, had lodged a missing report when his son wasn’t found during the riots.
It was his case that his son was killed by Tahir Hussain and his associates, who gathered in his office and threw Ankit’s body in the drain after killing him.
#SupremeCourt to hear a batch of petitions seeking Scheduled Caste status for Dalit converts
Adv. Prashant Bhushan for one of the petitioners:This matter involved constitutional validity of the Schedule caste order by which it was provided persons belonging to religion other than Hinduism will not be considered as Scheduled Caste.
Bhushan: Later Buddhist religion and Sikh religion was added.
Delhi High Court restrains Income Tax authorities from acting on the Show Cause notice issued to Rajya Sabha MP and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal on March 11, 2023 in relation to assessment proceedings.
The court said the concerned officer will first dispose of objections preferred by Sibal. "In this context, the concerned officer will issue a notice to the petitioner which would indicate the date, venue and time of the hearing," said the court.
The concerned officer will pass a speaking order qua the objections preferred by the petitioner and a copy of the same will be furnished to the petitioner, a division bench of the court said in the order.
#DelhiHighCourt to shortly hear #DelhiPolice’s plea against discharge of #SharjeelImam, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha and eight others in 2019 Jamia violence case.
Hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.
The matter will be heard at 2:15 PM.
While issuing notice in the petition, Justice Sharma had said that the trial court’s observations against the investigating agency will neither affect further investigation nor the trial of any accused person.
Justice Gita Gopi: Here, the lawyers don't even call litigants to their chambers. Now, Foreign lawyers are going to come to India, and you all (referring to advocates present in courts) are going to get tough competition.
"Let's see how do treat litigants after that...The foreign lawyers will at least serve tea, and coffee to the litigants, and at least corporate culture will be there...I want to see what you do then (laughs)": Justice Gita Gopi
"Remember, one who is a farmer, his clothes look dirty. The cloth of the garage worker looks stained with oil...Never judge a person by the clothes he wears": Justice Gita Gopi
The Kerala High Court is set to hear the bail application moved by the CM's former Principal Secretary, M. Sivasankar, who had been arrested by ED in connection with money laundering related to the LIFE Mission case. #KeralaHC#MoneyLaundering#LIFEMissionCase
A Special PMLA Court at Kochi had rejected Sivasankar's bail application on March 2 and extended his custody till March 21. Sivasankar had moved the plea seeking bail on medical grounds. He had alleged the arrest as a 'political stunt'. #KeralaHC#LIFEMissionCase#MoneyLaundering