As the Centre opposed a petition seeking removal of the present mode of execution of death row convicts by hanging from the statute, the Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned its “status-quoist” attitude on the contentious issue.

“The problem is the government is not ready to evolve... it’s a very old procedure, things have changed over a period of time,” a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said.

The Bench was hearing senior advocate Rishi Malhotra’s 2017 petition seeking abolition of the practice of executing death row convicts by hanging and replacing it with less painful methods such as “intravenous lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or gas chamber”. The PIL referred to the 187th Report of the Law Commission advocating removal of the present mode of executi

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