The Supreme Court on Tuesday fixed January 21, 2026 , for final hearing on a long-pending plea seeking to replace the practice of executing death row convicts by hanging with less painful alternatives such as lethal injection, shooting, electrocution, or gas chamber.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing the petition filed in 2017 by senior advocate Rishi Malhotra , who has sought the abolition of hanging as the mode of execution, arguing that it violates human dignity and causes undue suffering.

During the brief hearing, Attorney General R. Venkataramani requested the bench to list the matter in January next year. Responding humorously to the prolonged pendency of the case, Malhotra remarked, “This has been hanging like hanging.”

Venkataramani replied, “

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