CHENNAI: Behind bars, the ‘god of death’ does not come on a buffalo, nor does he have horns. Clad in a crisp, white vest and khaki shorts, he is called jakki addikkiravar. As he walks down the corridors of the prison, all conversations come to an abrupt end, as the inmates try to avoid meeting his gaze.
Jakkis are well-built and refrain from displaying emotion due to the nature of their jobs. Their work begins as the date of execution nears. Once capital punishment is confirmed, the convict will be moved to the ‘condemned cell’ that is situated close to the gallows, with a jailer keeping watch.
A week before the hanging, they test the rope and stand by using heavy sacks, weighing exactly double the body weight of the prisoner. On the day of execution, the convict is brought to the gallows with his hands and legs tied. The rope is hung around the neck and a plastic material is placed near the throat, which breaks the windpipe. It only takes 30 to 40 seconds.
The jakki has to ensure the rope does not shake even if the convict struggles during the execution. A few minutes later, the body is released, and after confirmation from the medical team, is handed over to relatives. The body is sent through a special passage which leads to the main road. As per the procedure, executions have to be carried out before sunset.
The job of a hangman has thus been neatly put on a checklist, but the emotional stress it puts on the humans behind the job is often underplayed, said those who have worked with hangmen.
Recalling the experience of late hangman Arumugam, Rajendran, the retired superintendent of Puzhal Prison, narrated how the man used to stand still and read the emotions of the prisoner right from walking to the gallows till he was hanged. “Even the very last breath of the person who loses his life, the vibration of the rope remains clear that entire night,” Arumugam would tell him.
The last execution in the State was that of ‘Auto’ Shankar, the serial killer and rapist. Till the last day, when his mercy petition was rejected by the President, Shankar was confident of escaping the noose, said retired DIG S Ramachandran (69). After joining the service as a warden in 1967, he worked for 40 years in the prison department during which there were 10 death penalties that were completed. But this still was different.
The previous evening, Shankar was joking with other inmates and officials. At around midnight, as they were waiting for the communication, Ramachandran said, Shankar opened up to him.
“I deserve to be punished. But during my incarceration, I have developed a desire to lead a reformed life,” Ramachandran recalled Shankar as saying. The conversation went on for four hours. That was when the information came that his petition was rejected. He was to be hanged at 4 am on April 27, 1995.
“For the next hour, Shankar never spoke a word. Trying to comfort him, I asked if he wanted to write a letter. He accepted and wrote one to his daughter for 20 minutes. Nothing much could have changed but there was a sign of relief on his face. Then, he took a bath and walked up to the gallows. The jakki was preparing to tie Shankar’s hands and legs and put the black cloth mask on his face, when he called for me. He kissed my hand. Minutes later, he was hanged. It was all over,” Ramachandran said.
That was the last time a person was executed in Tamil Nadu. “When I joined as an assistant jailer three decades ago, there was a jakki in each jail. Now there are none. If a death sentence is confirmed, the warden or jailer has to be trained for a week,” added former prison superintendent Rajendran.
This challenging nature of their jobs puts enormous mental stress on hangmen, who need counselling often, said Beulah Sekar, an associate professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli. “The lack of such facilities result in them getting detached from their families. After retirement, most of them abandon their families. So, children are the worst affected,” she added.
S Ramachandran, DIG (r)
After joining the service as a warden in 1967, Ramachandran worked for 40 years in the prison department during which there were 10 death penalties. But the 69-year-old recalled his chat with serial killer and rapist ‘Auto’ Shankar, the last person who was hanged in Tamil Nadu: “I asked if he wanted to write a letter. He accepted and wrote one to his daughter. Nothing much could have changed but there was a sign of relief on his face.”
rajendran, si (r), puzhal prison
Recalling the experience of late hangman Arumugam, Rajendran, who joined as an assistant jailer three decades ago, narrated how the man used to stand still and read the emotions of the prisoner right from walking to the gallows till he was hanged. “Even the very last breath of the person who loses his life, the vibration of the rope remains clear that entire night,” Arumugam would tell him.