The Supreme Court of India has asked the Narendra Modi-led government to begin discussions to replace death by hanging.
The top court added that it was willing to set up a committee of experts to examine the issue after hearing a plea that sought a "painless end for death convicts."
The plea also suggested alternatives, requesting the apex court to consider shooting, the electric chair or lethal injection.
The petitioner's lawyer Rishi Malhotra called hanging "absolutely cruel".
"It's a matter of reflection. We need some scientific data in our hands. Give us some study on the pain caused, we may form a committee," Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said in response to Malhotra's arguments.
"Even lethal injection is painful. Coming to shooting, it was a favorite time-pass of military regimes, in complete violation of human rights," Chandrachud, however, added.
Despite his apprehensions about lethal injection becoming an alternative to death by hanging, the chief justice called for studies to find a suitable chemical to carry out the procedure.
"We have to see if this method satisfies the test of proportionality and if there is another method which can be adopted, then if death by hanging can be declared as unconstitutional," Justice Chandrachud concluded.