India, Aug. 27 -- 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 ...