A study by the Law Commission on the barbarity involved...

A study by the Law Commission on the barbarity involved in methods of execution recommended that India replace hanging with lethal injection. The study, to be given to the law ministry for further action, did not advocate abolishing the death penalty but reiterated Ashoka's famous edict that the state cannot kill a man with vengeance. It also referred to the report by the Royal Commission in England and Canada which fixed three criteria for executing death sentences: death should be quick; it should be painless; and finally, there should be minimum mutilation of the body. After examining the systems of execution the commission found that in most cases of hanging death was due to strangulation and not due to the snapping of the spinal cord. Commission member N M Ghatate declared he felt lethal injection to be the most humane method of executing a death sentence. Explaining the process, he said, "Before injection, saline solution is given to see if the veins are clear. Then, bromide is given to relax the muscles and sodium thiopental which puts the person to sleep. Potassium chloride is then injected. The person dies in sleep."