Nirbhaya convicts to be executed in Jail No. 3 in Tihar jail

The four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape case will be executed in Jail No. 3, a senior Tihar Jail official said hours after a Delhi court issued death warrants against them and declared that they will be hanged at 7am on January 22.

Sources said the jail authorities will formally approach the Uttar Pradesh prison authority asking for a hangman from the state’s Meerut district to carry out the executions.

The hangman, Pawan Jallad, said though no one has spoken to him about the executions, he is ready to do the job to send out a strong message in the society.

According to the Tihar official, the four convicts—Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31)—will be kept in isolated cells and will not be allowed to interact with other prisoners. Their family members, however, can visit them any time.

The safety of the convicts will be taken care of by the prison authorities and doctors will conduct regular check-ups to keep a check on their physical and mental health, he added.

The four will be executed in Jail No. 3 and the ropes which will be used for hanging them will be brought from Bihar, the official said, adding that the prison authorities are waiting to receive the court order.

Asked if the four would be hanged together, the official said “it is possible”.

If this happens, this will also be the first time that four convicts will be hanged at the same time, he said.

Three of the convicts are lodged in Jail No. 2, while one is in Jail No. 4, he added.

Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old paramedic student, was gangraped and brutalised on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a moving bus in south Delhi by the four men, including two others, before being dumped on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Of the six persons convicted, one allegedly committed suicide in jail and another, a juvenile, was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwaha, who headed the special investigation team (SIT) which probed the Nirbhaya gangrape case, said the execution of the four convicts will be a “real tribute” to her.

The case led to toughening of India’s rape laws.