India, Aug. 18 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to issue any judicial mandate for replacing hanging with any other "less painful or humane" method of execution and affirmed the constitutional validity of the hearing as a, but left the door open for the Union government to examine alternatives in future in light of scientific and technological developments.

A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta held that no case was made out for reconsidering the top court's 1983 Constitution Bench judgment in Deena @ Deena Dayal vs Union of India, which upheld hanging as a constitutionally valid mode of executing a death sentence.

However, the bench made it clear that its dismissal of the challenge would not foreclose future scrutiny...