In a first, Delhi’s Tihar Jail readies for 4 executions in a single day

The Tihar Jail spokesperson said the four convicts have now been kept in single cells and are being monitored by CCTV cameras and guards. He added that the four men are also on suicide watch.

Tihar jail authorities Tuesday said they have begun the preparations to hang the four convicts of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. The prison authorities have bought 10 new ropes from Buxar jail in Bihar for hanging convicts Mukesh Singh, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma. This is the first time in the jail’s history that four persons will be hanged the same day.

A Tihar Jail official said in the next few days, the jail officers will open the space where the four will be hanged inside jail 3 and check the wooden beam. (ANI / Twitter)

The prison’s spokesperson, additional inspector general (AIG) Raj Kumar, said the Uttar Pradesh prisons department has agreed that the services of a hangman from Meerut could be roped in. “Now that the court has issued the death warrants, we will approach them for a final confirmation,” Kumar said.

The officer said the four convicts have now been kept in single cells and are being monitored by CCTV cameras and guards. The four men are lodged in jails 2 and 4. The AIG said the four men are also on suicide watch. “We will follow the law completely. The preparations are in place according to the letter of the law,” he said.

Another jail officer, who did not wish to be named, said in the next few days, the jail officers will open phansi kotha (the space where the four will be hanged) inside jail 3 and check the wooden beam. Last month, the jail officers conducted a mock drill using sand bags. “In the days before the hanging, we will conduct more such exercises. This will be done according to law to ensure that nothing goes wrong while executing the death sentence. We will use sand bags that match the convicts’ weights for these exercises,” the second officer said.

Hangman says he is ready

Pawan, who would most likely execute the four men, said hanging is a befitting punishment for rape convicts. A father of five daughters and two sons, Pawan lives in Kashiram colony of Lohia Nagar locality near Meerut town.

Speaking to reporters, Pawan said he was not aware of the death warrant issued by the Delhi court and is yet to be approached by the government. “I am ready for it,” he said, when told that a hangman in Lucknow was ill and, therefore, he was chosen by the prisons department.

Pawan, however, demanded a higher remuneration for the job. “The government gives me only ₹5,000 per month for doing such an important work. The stipend should be increased to ₹20,000,” he said.

Pawan, whose given name is Sindhi Ram, belongs to a family of hangmen. His father Mammu Singh and grandfather Kallu Jallad had hanged the killers of former prime minister Indira Gandhi. His great grandfather was also a hangman during the British rule, he said.