The Indian Law Commission said that public opinion...

The Indian Law Commission said that public opinion on the mode of executing prisoners on death row favoured an amendment to the law, which stipulated hanging as the method of execution. The commission said nearly ninety per cent responses it received from lawyers, bar bodies, human rights activists and individuals wanted changes in the Penal Code. On methods of executing death penalty convicts, 73 per cent preferred lethal injection, ten per cent electric chair and five per cent shooting. The majority view was that lethal injection caused a less painful form of death than hanging. Fifty one per cent of those who supported hanging as the method of execution said that prisoners on death row should be hanged in public, arguing that such a method would act as a deterrent. 70 per cent of those surveyed believed that prisoners should be given an option to choose between hanging and shooting. 83 per cent of the people who responded to the law panel's questionnaire said that prisoners sentenced to death should be given a right to petition the Supreme Court. 99 per cent of them also demanded that only a five-judge bench of the apex court should deal with the case of a convict sentenced to death.