Tihar jail official says the four 16 December gang-rape convicts have made no special demands, have been meeting their families.
New Delhi: The four 16 December gang-rape convicts have “lost their appetite” and are spending most of their time “watching Bollywood movies on TV” as their date of hanging approaches, ThePrint has learnt.
The four men — Mukesh, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma — are scheduled to hang on 20 March.
“They have gone quiet and have not been eating well. All they do is watch Bollywood movies on the TV they have access to,” a Tihar jail official told ThePrint.
“They have also been monitoring the news on television to see how the courts, the outside world and their families, are reacting to the news of their hanging,” he added.
The Tihar jail official said that the four have been advised against watching the news as that could affect their health, “but they insist”. He added that their health was fine and they are being monitored by the doctors regularly.
“They have not yet made any special demands. Their families have been coming to visit. Only Akshay’s family has not come for the ‘akhri mulaqat’ (last meeting), but they are expected to come on Thursday,” he said.
Hanging rehearsals complete
Hangman Pawan reached Tihar jail three days ago and has been carrying out the rehearsals along with the prison staff.
According to a source in Tihar, Pawan has even “trained” a few jail officials to carry out the hanging, in case anything goes wrong at the last minute.
The source added that there will be two levers that will have to be pulled to hang the four convicts, and hangman Pawan will do that one after another at the gap of five seconds.
He will be paid Rs 20,000 for the execution, the source said.
“Pawan will hang all four convicts together. He will pull the two levers one after the other within seconds,” the source said. “He has, however, trained a few jail officials for the same, in case they are needed at the last minute.”
To accommodate four persons, Tihar authorities have got the platform renovated to make it sturdy and the well in which the bodies will fall, too, has been deepened and widened. The well is usually 15 to 20 feet deep.
The execution will take place in the phansi kotha inside jail number 3.
The phansi kotha is also the place where the bodies of Afzal Guru and Kashmir separatist leader Maqbool Bhat are buried.
The day of hanging
On the morning of the execution, the jail superintendent will first ensure that all the formalities related to the execution are completed.
The convicts, who have been kept in isolation, will then be brought out by the superintendent, the district magistrate or additional district magistrate and the medical officer.
“Their hands will be tied behind their backs and their handcuffs removed. They will then be taken to the scaffold under the charge of the deputy superintendent and guarded by the head warder and six warders,” a second Tihar jail official said.
Once the prisoners reach the scaffold, a cotton cap with a flap will be placed on their heads just before they enter the gallows-enclosures as according to the jail manual, the prisoner should not be allowed to see the gallows.
The men will then be escorted to the noose and will be placed directly under the beam to which a rope is attached. Following this, they will be handed over to the hangman, who will strap their legs tightly together and adjust the ropes tightly around their necks.
The superintendent will then check if the rope around the necks of the prisoners is adjusted properly and the knot placed in the proper position.
After a signal from the superintendent, the executioner will draw the bolt.
The jail manual says that this entire operation should be done “simultaneously and quickly as possible”.
After this, the superintendent will give the final signal to the hangman to push the lever to release the trap-door and hang the men.
According to rules, the bodies will remain suspended for half-an-hour before they are taken down or until the resident medical officer has certified that “life is extinct”.
Once the men are executed and their bodies taken out of the gallows, they will be sent for a post-mortem examination.
According to the jail manual the bodies will then be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of the religion to which the executed prisoner belonged.
Source: theprint.in, Staff, March 19, 2020
All the legal options used by Nirbhaya convicts to avoid hanging
Making last-ditch attempts to escape the noose, four December 2012 gang rape convicts filed every petition possible exercising all legal options available to any death row convict.
New Delhi: The four death row convicts in the 16 December 2012 gang rape and murder case are set to be hanged at 5.30 am Friday, after a long legal battle during which they exercised and exhausted all options available before them to avoid being sent to the gallows.
Here is a look at the petitions filed by the convicts to avoid death penalty and the decisions taken by courts on them:
5 May, 2017: SC upholds death penalty of four convicts, says the case falls under the category of ‘rarest of rare’ and the offence created “tsunami of shock”.
8 Nov, 2017: Mukesh, one of the four convicts in the case, moves SC seeking review of its verdict upholding the capital punishment awarded to him.
15 Dec, 2017: Convicts Vinay Sharma and Pawan Kumar Gupta move SC for review of the verdict.
4 May, 2018: SC reserves order on review plea by Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta.
9 July: SC dismisses review pleas of Mukesh, Vinay and Pawan.
10 Feb, 2019: Victim’s parents move Delhi court for issuance of death warrants of the four convicts.
10 December, 2019: Akshay moves plea in SC seeking review of his death penalty.
13 December: Victim’s mother moves SC opposing review plea of convict.
18 December: SC dismisses Akshay’s review plea.
18 December: Delhi govt seeks death warrants for execution of death sentence to the 4 convicts.
18 December: Delhi court directs Tihar authorities to issue notice to convicts to avail their remaining legal remedies.
19 December: Delhi HC dismisses plea of Pawan who had claimed he was a juvenile at the time of committing the offence.
6 January, 2020: Delhi court dismisses complaint filed by Pawan’s father seeking FIR against sole witness.
7 January: Delhi court orders 4 convicts to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail.
14 January: SC rejects curative petition of Vinay and Mukesh.
14 January: Mukesh files mercy petition before President.
17 January: President Ram Nath Kovind rejects mercy plea of Mukesh.
17 January: Trial court issues death warrants again with execution date as 1 February, 6 am.
25 January: Mukesh moves SC against rejection of mercy plea.
29 January: Convict Akshay approaches SC with his curative petition.
29 January: SC rejects plea of Mukesh challenging rejection of his mercy plea.
30 January: SC dismisses curative plea of Akshay Kumar Singh.
31 January: SC dismisses plea filed by Pawan seeking review of its order rejecting his juvenility claim.
31 January: Delhi court again postpones execution of the black warrants till further order.
1 February: Centre moves HC against the trial court order.
2 February: HC reserves judgment on Centre’s plea.
5 February: HC dismisses Centre’s plea against trial court order, says all four convicts have to be hanged together. It directs the convicts to pursue all legal remedies within a week, failing which the authorities ordered to take action in accordance with law.
17 February: Vinay Sharma files a petition seeking better treatment for mental illness, schizophrenia and head, and arm injuries.
17 February: Fresh death warrants issued for 3 March.
22 February: Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana rejects the plea by Vinay. Tihar jail authorities terms his claims as a “bundle of distorted facts” and tells the court that CCTV footage established that the convict had inflicted “superficial” injuries on himself and was not suffering from any psychological disorder.
25 February: Supreme Court says it will hear on 5 March the plea filed by the central government challenging the Delhi High Court verdict that held the four death row convicts have to be executed together and not separately.
4 March: Pawan files his mercy plea before the President.
5 March: Delhi Court issues new death warrant stating hanging will take place on 20 March.
17 March: Akshay, one of the four convicts in the gruesome crime, writes second mercy petition to President Ram Nath Kovind. The petition submitted to Tihar Jail authorities, which is to transfer it to the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Delhi government.
17 March: Mukesh’s mother files an application in the NHRC and demands an inquiry into Ram Singh’s suicide in Tihar jail. Mukesh’s elder brother Ram Singh was also an accused in this case. Mukesh’s mother seeks stay on the execution of the sentence as Mukesh is a witness in the case. NHRC dismisses the petition.
17 March: Wife of Akshay, Punita Devi, files for a divorce in a local court in Bihar’s Aurangabad. The plea says she does not want to live the life of a widow after her husband is hanged. The court posts the matter for 19 March.
18 March: Delhi HC reserves order after concluding arguments on Mukesh’s plea challenging trial court order dismissing his plea that sought quashing of the death penalty claiming he wasn’t in Delhi when the gang rape took place.
18 March: Delhi HC dismisses Mukesh’s plea.
19 March: Convict Pawan Gupta files curative plea in SC urging his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment as he was a minor at the time of the incident.
19 March: SC dismisses Pawan’s curative plea.
19 March: After HC dismissal of plea, convict Mukesh moves SC claiming he was not in Delhi at time of crime in December 2012.
19 March: All four convicts approach Delhi court to stay the 20 March death warrant stating the pending decisions. Judge Dharmendra Rana reserves the order.
19 March: SC dismisses Mukesh’s petition.
19 March: SC dismisses Akshay’s plea challenging rejection of his second mercy plea.
19 March: No stay on execution of death warrants granted.
Source:
theprint.in, Staff, March 19, 2020
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
