"The people who are going to die are like beasts, not humans,” Hangman Pawan Jallad said to Daily Mail in January referring to the four convicts of Nirbhaya rape and murder case.
"They are cruel people and that's why they are going to lose their lives," he added.
With no sympathy in his heart for the accused – a sentiment shared by many – Pawan Jallad, at 5.30 am on Friday, 20 March, hanged Pawan Kumar Gupta, Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay, all accused in brutal and gut-wrenching Nirbhaya murder and rape case.
For Kumar, a hangman from Meerut, who had come to Tihar Jail administration on Tuesday evening to practise the exercise and do “dummy executions”, it was his first execution.
Following the hanging, Pawan said I am happy to execute four convicts, IANS reported.
“For the first time in my life, I’m happy to execute four convicts. I had been waiting for this day for long. I thank God and the Tihar jail administration.”Pawan Jallad
Who is Hangman Pawan Jallad?
Pawan, a third-generation hangman, is the only "certified" hangman in Uttar Pradesh, attached to the Meerut jail and gets a monthly salary of Rs 3,000, as per IANS.
Pawan, father of seven, witnessed his first execution when he assisted his grandfather, Kallu Ram in 1988, The Week reported.
A part-time clothes hawker, Jallad was always waiting for his first execution, he told The Guardian in 2014. He said he learned everything about execution from his father and grandfather.
“I come from the family of executioners. I don’t need much practice. I will only have to inspect the noose and the execution place once, see the measurement of the convicts and prepare myself for the execution.”Pawan Jallad said earlier this year
Several times earlier, Pawan Jallad was scheduled to hang different victims but last moment legal proceedings always postponed or cancelled the executions.
“They (father and grandfather) were proud of what they did and I am proud of helping them. It is a duty. Justice is being done. A criminal is being killed and crime is going to come down in India as a result. That’s why we feel nothing when we kill a man.”Pawan Jallad to The Guardian in 2014
Before the Nirbhaya convicts' execution this morning, at many occassions, Jallad, 58 had reiterated that he was preapring for this day.
"It will really give a great sigh of relief to me, to Nirbhaya's parents and to everyone else in the country when these convicts are hanged. These kinds of people should be hanged," he told the reporters in January 2020.
(With inputs from The Guardian, The Week, IANS & Daily Mail)
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