The authorities at the Prison Department, however, said that there will be ample time to arrange a scaffold as and when required.
After a fast track court in Asifabad district recently awarded capital punishment to three convicts in the Samatha rape case, the question of lack of a gallows to implement the capital punishment has come to the fore once again.
It is a known fact that there are no gallows in the State to hang the convicts who were issued a death warrant.
The authorities at the Prison Department, however, said that there will be ample time to arrange a scaffold as and when required.
However, it is not easy for authorities to set up gallows in a short span of time and execute punishment, as they have to go through a myriad number of procedures before hanging a convict.
For instance, punishment executor (hangmen) has to undergo adequate training and practise on dummies.
The ‘Model Prison Manual for The Superintendence and Management of Prisons in India’, says “the required number of executioners may always be posted at the headquarters/central prison/prison where executions have to be carried out.”
Speaking to Express, B Saidaiah, Inspector General, prisons department said, “Once the death punishment is upheld by the competent authority and a death punishment is issued, we can set up the necessary arrangements in less than a month.”
When asked about the lack of hangmen, he said that they can be hired on ad-hoc basis. He added that the department is contemplating to arrange makeshift gallows.
Apart from rapists, there are convicts who were awarded death punishment in 2007 Hyderabad twin blasts case and, in 2013 twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar.
After the demolition of Musheerabad jail, there are no gallows in any of the prisons in the State.
Source: newindianexpress.com, Staff, February 3, 2020
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
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