“I am all set to perform the execution and have already done a trial run with a sand bag equal to the weight of the prisoner. I have been eagerly waiting for this moment all my life," 52-year-old Kumar, a resident of Meerut, told INN.
42-year-old Koli, who brutally killed children and women and ate their body parts in Nithari locality of Noida in Uttar Pradesh, was awarded death sentence by a lower court, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court in February 2011. While 16 cases were filed against Koli, he has been awarded death sentence in four of them so far and others are still under trial.
Explaining how executions are conducted, he said: “The entire process of
hanging takes around 15-20 minutes. The criminal is brought and made to
stand on a special platform. A mask is put on him. A narrow diameter noose
is looped around the prisoner’s neck. After getting a go ahead from the
authority concerned, I pull the lever and the platform splits, resulting in the
hanging of the prisoner.”
Asked if humanitarian feelings do not cloud his mind when he is at the job,
Kumar added, “I am doing a noble job by eliminating criminals from the
society. Hanging a person requires guts, which I have. Everyone cannot hang
people. When I walk to the scaffold, it is only the criminal family who sees me
as a devil.” Asked whether it does not feel bad when people call him ‘jallad’ (hangman),
Kumar replied in the negative. “I am helping the government punish a
criminal. I am doing something which the society should be proud of. If we
don’t hang criminals, they won’t be afraid of anything,” he explained.
Kumar has inherited the job from his father who, in turn, took over from his
father. “I am taking family’s legacy forward. My father and grandfather both
were government registered executioners,” he said.
In his 40-year career, Kumar’s grandfather Kalu Ram executed at least 60
people, including one of the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was gunned down by her two bodyguards in 1984.
Kumar learned the technique of hanging from his grandfather. “I
accompanied my grandfather in five executions that took place in Agra in
1988 and Jaipur (Rajasthan), Allahabad and Patiala (Punjab) in 1989. At that
time, my grandfather had grown old. He was only present on the site and I
did everything under his supervision from placing noose around the neck of
the prisoner to pulling the lever,” said Kumar, who is waiting for his maiden
execution.
After Kalu Ram, Kumar’s father Mamu Singh started following the family
practice in 1989 and carried out around six executions. Kumar, the father of
seven children, is paid Rs 3,000 from the Uttar Pradesh government as the
“retention fees”.
Terming the sum “insufficient” to make both ends meet, Kumar said he has to
ferry clothes. “Despite serving the government, I don’t have the privileges
like regular state employees. There is no provision of pension, provident
fund and insurance. Why should my children practice the same trade? This is
despite the government struggling to find executioners in a country of 1.2
billion people,” complained Kumar. Kumar is the only registered executioner
in the state.
Meerut Senior Jail Superintendent SHM Rizvi accepted that there is no other
hangman in the state but said the executioner is “not a regular government
employee”. “We pay him a retention fees, which has recently been raised to
Rs 3,000,” he added.
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