LawLoveLegal

Introduction: India’s First 24x7 Digital Court India’s justice system has long struggled with a massive judicial backlog, much of which arises from repetitive and high-volume cases. In November 2024, Kerala’s Kollam district launched the country’s first 24x7 Open and Networked (ON) Court , inaugurated by the current Chief Justice of India, BR Gavai. Designed as a digital-first judicial institution, the ON Court aims to simplify access to justice, speed up case disposal, improve communication between stakeholders, and create a model that can be replicated across India. One year later, the pilot project shows promising outcomes in efficiency, transparency, and user satisfaction. Origins of the ON Court Model Internal Judicial Brainstorming The idea originated within the Supreme Court of India and the Kerala High Court’s internal brainstorming sessions on modernising justice delivery. The goal was not merely digitisation but a complete restructuring of how courts function. The co...

The Supreme Court of India has reignited the debate around capital punishment methods, questioning whether the colonial-era practice of death by hanging should continue to be India’s sole means of execution. On October 9, 2025 , a bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta suggested that the Union Government should consider giving death row convicts the option to choose between hanging and lethal injection , observing that “methods of execution across the world have undergone significant change” since India codified hanging into law. The Case and the Challenge The issue arises from a petition filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra , challenging the constitutional validity of Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) , which mandated that a person sentenced to death “shall be hanged by the neck till he is dead.” This provision has now been replaced by Section 393(5) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 , but the method of hangin...