EXPLAINED: PROCEDURE TO HANG NIRBHAYA CONVICTS TILL DEATH TOMORROW

Nirbhaya convicts are said to be hanged to death at 6 am on February 1, 2020, tomorrow, unless something comes up as a hindrance. Below is how they will be hanged.

• Prisoners are woken up at 3 am.
• They are allowed to take a bath if they desire. Hot water is also provided on request.
• They are served their favourite breakfast.
• They are given some alone time in case they wish to remember their friends, family and such.
• If desired, they are provided with religious books and allowed to recite prayers.
• They are examined by a doctor and then made to wear plain cotton clothes.
• Their hands would be tied at the back and their faces covered with a black hood.
• Convicts are taken to the gallows, placed under the noose.
• Their legs are tied together.
• Rope is placed around their neck.
• Executioner draws the bolt.
• Hangman gets signal to pull the lever.
• Convicts are hanged to death.
• Bodies are suspended in air for half-an-hour.
• Once the bodies are taken down, a doctor checks to ensure they are dead.
• Autopsy is performed on the bodies. Jail authorities take care of cremation.
• Relatives may be permitted to cremate them after giving an undertaking that they would do so privately and not hold a public demonstration.

A 23-year-old physiotherapy student was violently gangraped in 2012 in a moving bus in Delhi by six men. She died of extensive injuries 13 days later at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital. One of the convicts, Ram Singh, committed suicide in 2013 in jail whereas a minor accused was given a maximum punishment of three years as per the Juvenile Justice laws. The other four – Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma – are set to be hanged tomorrow.