50 men want to hang Qasab

With verdict on Qasab's death sentence next week, jail officials have received a whopping 50 applications in 2 months for a post that has been vacant for 6 years

50 men want to hang Qasab

With verdict on Qasab's death sentence next week, jail officials have received a whopping 50 applications in 2 months for a post that has been vacant for 6 years

The state's prison administration has an important recruitment to make. And the job, generally deemed as unsavoury what with the paltry pay, no benefits and a lot of conscientious baggage attached has several takers this time.

It is that of an executor. And the execution in question is that of Mohammed Ajmal Qasab.

In the last couple of months, the jail administration has received some 50 applications most from people almost eager to hang the lone surviving terrorist convicted of the 26/11 attacks in the city, and some driven by personal vendetta.

The Bombay High Court will pronounce the verdict confirming the Pakistani terrorist's death sentence on February 21, nine months after a trial court awarded it.

"We have received at least 50 applications in the last two months from people across the country," said a senior jail official, adding "Most of them have expressed an interest in the job. Many of them have also written letters with hatred and vengeance for Qasab."

After the sentence, Qasab, currently lodged in a specially built, high-security cell at the Arthur Road prison, will be shifted to either the Yerwada prison in Pune or the Nagpur prison, the only two jails in the state with gallows.

But no matter the number of applicants offering their services to hang Qasab, officials have to be wary in electing the right candidate, given the sensitive nature of the job.
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They are yet to process the applications and the decision is expected to come after the court's judgment.

Vacancy open

Currently, jails in the state do not have a hangman. Pramod Jadhav, who retired in 1995, was the last one. Officials said that the only criteria for the job are that the person be a male and at least 5.4 feet tall.

According to sources in the prison department, the government has not approved the application of Prabhat Mullick.

Mullick's only merit was that he is the son of Nata Mullick, the hangman who carried out the last execution in India, officials said.

Nata executed Dhananjoy Chatterjee, convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old, in 2004.

Incidentally, for what may seem like a job that requires a steel backbone, the hangman gets paid a sum of Rs 200 for every execution.

Qasab's should be no different. Also, since the hangman is not an employee of the state government, he doesn't get any related benefits, officials said. The retirement age for a hangman is 58 years.

11
The number of convicts lodged in Yerwada prison in Pune, awaiting the execution of their death sentence. This number includes those convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

The Last Hanging
The last hanging in India was conducted in 2005 when child rapist Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed by the then 87-year old hangman, Nata Mullick, in West Bengal.