New Delhi/IBNS, Aug. 18 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to replace hanging with a less painful and more dignified method of executing the death penalty, while leaving open the possibility of revisiting the issue if compelling scientific or medical evidence emerges.

The court's ruling effectively retains hanging as the prescribed method for carrying out death sentences in India.

The petition was filed by senior advocate Rishi Malhotra, who challenged the constitutional validity of the provision prescribing hanging as the method of execution.

The plea also sought reconsideration of the Supreme Court's earlier three-judge bench ruling in Deena v Union of India, which had upheld hanging as constitutionally vali...