The plea said that Article 21 (Right to Life) of the Constitution also includes the right of a condemned prisoner to have a dignified mode of execution so that death becomes less painful.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the Centre and sought its response in three weeks on the PIL which referred to the 187th Report of the Law Commission against the present mode of execution.
A provision in the Criminal Procedure Code provides that the mode of execution of death penalty would be hanging by the neck. The plea also challenges the constitutional validity of this provision.