Editorial 1: Masking cruelty
Recent Context:
- Even though the constitutional validity of the death penalty has been upheld by the Supreme Court, there have been persistent constitutional concerns with various aspects of the administration of the death penalty
- , A Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud asked the Centre to defend the law that allows hanging by the neck as a mode of execution, reopening a decades-old debate over whether there can be a more humane and dignified way of executing the death penalty.
Does death penalty uphold constitutional validity?
- Death row prisoners in India are executed by hanging and the constitutional validity of hanging was last considered and upheld by the Supreme Court nearly four decades ago in September 1983 (Deena v. Union of India).
- The Law Commission of India in October 2003 (187th Report) recognised the constitutional impermissibility of death by hanging and recommended that India consider using lethal injections instead.
- However, the two decades since the 187th LCI Report have seen a series of botched up executions in the US involving lethal injections.
- Earlier this week, the Supreme Court was called upon to reconsider its September 1983 decision on whether India could continue using hanging for executions.
- While the petitioner’s claim was that we must move to lethal injection as a humane method of execution, the proceedings raise some fundamental constitutional questions for the administration of the death penalty
- However, Death penalty is currently permissible it is then open to the state to use any method of execution. Any mode of execution that the state adopts must be capable of meeting constitutional requirements and that is a burden for the state to discharge.
Argument against death penalty in the form of hanging:
- There is now a strong body of evidence establishing that death by hanging is a cruel and barbaric form of execution that violates human dignity.
- Contrary to the belief of “instantaneous death” by dislocating the cervical vertebrae, documentation of hangings in the US and the UK expose the cruel “lingering” between life and death as they undergo immense suffering due to asphyxiation before dying.
- Research is replete with instances of snapped ropes, necks that slipped out of nooses, partial or total decapitations, and slow death due to strangulation (instead of having the neck broken).
- The immediate and the painless nature of death attributed to hanging is an exception rather than the rule.
- Various courts including the Privy Council, Supreme Court of Uganda and the High Court of Tanzania have relied on the suffering caused by hangings to reject it as a humane method of execution.
Then lethal injection is alternative ways?
- In its 187th report in 2003, the Law Commission had recommended that Section 354(5) CrPC should be amended to provide for “lethal injection until the accused is dead”. It had suggested that the mode of execution should be left to the discretion of the judge, who should hear the convict on the question before passing an order.
- However, there is now incontrovertible evidence from the US that executions using lethal injections come with a real and substantial risk of being botched and leading to immense suffering.
- In fact, a study published by the British Journal of American Legal Studies (2012) that examined 9,000 executions in the US between 1900 to 2010 found that executions using the lethal injection had a higher rate of being botched than any other method
- Most states rely on a three-drug combination of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.
- While sodium thiopental puts the prisoner to sleep, pancuronium bromide renders the prisoner paralytic and unable to show any pain before potassium chloride causes cardiac arrest.
- Any suffering that the prisoner goes through as a result of the induced cardiac arrest is masked by the effect of pancuronium bromide
- However, on group of people argue that Society, as a consumer and supporter of the death penalty, does not want to see the immense suffering that is inflicted in killing the death row prisoner.
Conclusion:
- The petitioners in the current instance seem to have approached the court with the intention of wanting to reduce the pain of death row prisoners during executions.
- The search for the “least painful method” is ultimately an endeavour in how much cruelty we are willing to tolerate. It is about our collective willingness to inflict cruelty on an individual while wanting to appear otherwise.
- Instead, it would be better for us to acknowledge that issues surrounding the methods of execution present yet another constitutional crisis point in the administration of the death penalty.
- Over the four decades since the constitutional validity of the death penalty was upheld, it is striking that significant constitutional concerns have emerged over every aspect of its administration without exception and further reform need to be brough out.
Editorial 2: Marburg virus disease outbreak kills five in Tanzania: What is this virus?
Recent Context:
- Five people have died and three others are infected with the Marburg virus – a highly infectious, Ebola-like disease – in Tanzania’s north-west Kagera region, authorities said earlier this week.
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 161 people have been identified as at risk of infection through contact tracing and are currently being monitored. An emergency response team has been deployed in the area and no other cases of the virus have been reported in the country outside Kagera, The Guardian said.
What is the Marburg virus disease?
- According to the WHO, Marburg virus disease (MVD), earlier known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal hemorrhagic fever,
- Marburg, like Ebola, is a filovirus; and both diseases are clinically similar.
- Rousettus fruit bats are considered the natural hosts for the Marburg virus. However, WHO said that African green monkeys imported from Uganda were the source of the first human infection
- It was first detected in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany; and in Belgrade, Serbia.
- As per, WHO, The disease has an average fatality rate of around 50%. However, it can be as low as 24% or as high as 88% depending on virus strain and case management
What are the symptoms of Marburg virus disease?
- After the onset of symptoms, which can begin anytime between two to 21 days, MVD can manifest itself in the form of high fever, muscle aches and severe headache. Around the third day, patients report abdominal pain, vomiting, severe watery diarrhoea and cramping.
- In this phase, the WHO says, the appearance of patients has been often described as “ghost-like” with deep-set eyes, expressionless faces, and extreme lethargy.
- Between days five and seven, patients report bleeding from the nose, and gums and blood appearing in vomit and faeces. Severe blood loss leads to death, often between eight to nine days after symptoms begin.
How can Marburg virus disease be diagnosed and treated?
- It is difficult to clinically distinguish MVD from diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever and other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
- However, it is confirmed by lab testing of samples, which like Coronavirus and Ebola are extreme biohazard risks.
- Currently, There is no approved antiviral treatment or vaccine for MVD as of now. It can be managed with supportive care. According to the WHO, rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids, and treatment of specific symptoms can help prevent death.
