Nirbhaya: Hangman to report 3 days earlier

With just five days left for the execution of death sentence in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Delhi’s Tihar Jail authorities on Sunday said they have asked the hangman to report three days ahead of the scheduled hanging.

The four convicts in the case — Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and

Akshay Kumar Singh (31) — are set to be hanged till death at 5.30 am on March 20. The execution of their death warrants has been deferred thrice so far due to delays by them in exhausting legal remedies.

After the fresh death warrant was issued, the jail authorities have written to their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh requesting for the service of hangman Pawan Jallad. Director-general (Prisons) Sandeep Goel said that Pawan Jallad, a hangman from Meerut, has been asked to report at Tihar Jail on March 17, three days ahead of the scheduled date of hanging. The dummy executions will be conducted again after the arrival of the hangman.

A jail official said that the health checks-up of the convicts is being done once in a day and they are being counselled on a regular basis. Of the four convicts, Mukesh, Pawan and Vinay have had their last face-to-face meetings with their respective families.

The authorities have written to the family of Akshay about the date for final meeting before the scheduled date of execution. The jail authorities have also not stopped the convicts’ weekly meetings with their families yet.

On the day of hanging, the jail superintendent is expected to wake up the convicts at about 3 am and then asked them to freshen up. Prisoners will be allowed to take a bath — if they want they will be provided hot water. Then, they will be served their favourite breakfast.

As per the procedure, the convicts will be allowed some time alone so that they can remember their family members and closed ones. If desired by the convicts, they will be provided with some religious books and allowed to recite prayers.