LUCKNOW: With the Nirbhaya case convicts set to be executed on January 22, Pawan Jallad, the hangman at Meerut prison, indicated he was ready to report to Delhi’s Tihar Jail any time to carry out the execution.Tihar authorities had moved a request to UP prison administration around a month ago to send two hangmen.
Pawan Jallad said four generations of his family had been into this profession. His great-grandfather Lakshman Singh executed Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev at Lahore jail. The hanging of Nirbhaya case convicts will be the first ‘execution’ for Pawan. Four years ago, he was all prepared to hang Nithari case convict Surendar Koli but the high court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.
Apart from being a hangman, Pawan is a street vendor selling bedsheets on cycle going from one mohallah to another in Meerut. No one in the city knew he was a jallad, he claimed.Pawan said the basic pre-requisites included the checking of the rope’s strength and the platform for hanging, besides practising on the lever using sand bags equal to the body weight of the convicts. The actual preparation was done two to three hours before the execution. He denied any psychological pressure.