Sleepless, edgy Nirbhaya rapists stared at never-ending night

The four Nirbhaya convicts — Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh,Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta — spent a restless night as they awaited theirhanging in the wee hours of Friday. They wanted to see each other, but TiharJail authorities denied the permission.

Sources inside the high-security prison, which went into alockdown mode prior to the most anticipated execution of the four men convictedfor the brutal gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in 2012,told IANS that at around 12 midnight, the hangman from Meerut, Pawan Jallad,was allowed to see the faces of all the four convicts, whom he was to executein the next five-and-a-half hours, for the first time.

   

At 1 a.m., Akshay wanted to meet Mukesh, but he was deniedpermission by the head warden. He caught a glimpse of the hangman, when hepassed by and wanted to know about the new face roaming around. The head wardentold him that he was just another prison staff.

Tihar Jail Director General Sandeep Goel confirmed that noneof the death row convicts managed to sleep even as their lawyer was making lastditch efforts in the Supreme Court to save them somehow. Vinay had kept sittingin his cell.

At 3.30 a.m. the apex court gave the go ahead for theirexecution.

By then, paramilitary personnel were deployed outside theTihar Jail complex in order to prevent any untoward incident, even as the fourconvicts prepared for their final journey from their cell to the executionplatform, more than seven years after their heinous crime led to judicialreforms in India’s rape laws.

At 4 a.m., the assistant jailer asked all the four men totake bath and get ready, to which Vinay retorted, sources said.

At 4.15 a.m., they were granted time to read any religiousscripture they wanted to. But all of them turned down the proposal.

The four were then served their last breakfast.

At around 4.30 a.m., they prepared to take the long walk tothe hanging area.

The four convicts underwent a medical check-up, whichestablished that they were fit to bear the punishment handed out to them.Meanwhile, the jail superintendent also checked for any letter or notice whichcould have prevented the execution, but no such document was received by thejail authorities.

At 5.20 a.m., with their faces covered with a cotton clothand hands tied behind their backs, the four convicts were taken to the ‘PhansiKothi’ (execution chamber), as the hanging area in Tihar Jail is commonlyknown. During this time, none of the other prisoners were allowed to leavetheir respective cells.

The District Magistrate, Medical Examiner, JailSuperintendent and 10 other jail officials were present in the executionchamber.

At 5.25 a.m., a cotton cap with a flap was put on theirfaces just before they entered the gallows enclosures. Once inside the ‘PhansiKothi’, the District Magistrate (DM) asked each of them for their final wish.Tihar sources said that none of the four convicts expressed any last wish.

The DM then counter-signed the ‘black’ warrant.

The convicts were then mounted on the scaffold and placeddirectly under the beam to which the ropes were attached. They were now underexecutioner Pawan’s watch, who strapped their legs tightly together andadjusted the rope around their necks.

“The Superintendent then gave the signal and theexecutioner pushed the lever to release the trap-door,” a Tihar sourcesaid.

After the execution, the bodies of the four men remainedsuspended for half-an-hour and were taken down at 6 a.m. after the doctorpresent announced that “life is extinct”.

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