CALCUTTA, 15 August 2004 — Convicted rapist-killer Dhananjoy Chatterjee ran amok kicking and abusing the prison staff before he was overpowered by commandoes and hanged at the crack of dawn.
Dhananjoy, 42, was executed at 4.30 am yesterday in Calcutta’s Alipore jail where he was held in solitary confinement for 13 years even as activists shouted slogans against capital punishment outside the prison gate.
Dhananjoy was sentenced to death in 1991 for raping and murdering 16-year-old Hetal Parekh — a tenant in the building where he worked as a security guard — in 1990.
“It is an exemplary punishment. It will go a long way to stop many such crimes in the future,” said Nishith Adhikary, law minister of West Bengal.
Speaking to Arab News, Inspector General of Prisons, Joydev Chakraborty, refused to confirm or deny that Dhananjoy turned violent while he was being led to the gallows.
“Dhananjoy screamed and shouted like a mad man and violently attacked prison guards but he was pinned to the ground”, revealed an official on condition of anonymity.
The official spoke to this correspondent soon after witnessing Dhananjoy’s execution — the first in India in 15 years. Giving the official version of the hanging, Joydeb said: “We have completed the execution of capital punishment of Dhananjoy. He was calm as he walked to the gallows. He had asked for religious songs to be played while the noose was being tightened and his wish was granted.”
Dhananjoy’s last rites were performed at a city crematorium by a charitable organization, Hindu Satkar Sangha, because his relatives refused to accept the body.
His parents and brother, who fought a lengthy legal battle to save him, stayed home in their village in Bankura district, 200 km west of Calcutta, where the radio broke the news of the hanging to them.
After the hanging, special prayers were held at Calcutta’s Welland Gould Smith School where Hetal studied.
“Students and teachers prayed together for Hetal’s soul. And we also prayed for Dhananjoy who got what he deserved”, said school Principal Gillian Rosemary D’Costa Hart.
Reporters, photographers and anti-hanging activists holding aloft banners were cordoned off 100 meters from the Aipore jail by a big police force.
“Hundred and twenty countries abolished death penalty. Why not India?” said a banner. “Abolish death penalty!” said another.
Undaunted by the security arrangements, groups of activists sang folk star Pete Seeger’s “We Shall Overcome” even after the word was out that Dhananjoy had been hanged.
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) chief, Sujato Bhadra, said they would soon start a door-to-door campaign to abolish death penalty. Many, however, were strongly in favor of the hanging. Rajendra Raja, president of Gujarati Parishad said, “Had they seen the sufferings of Hetal Parekh’s family, these NGOs wouldn’t have possibly carried out these demonstrations.”
Utpal Roy, who resides opposite the building where the Parekhs lived, said: “The case has been dragging unnecessarily for 14 years. But it is 100 percent victory of the truth”.
Sessions Judge R.N. Kali first sentenced Dhananjoy to death on Aug. 12, 1991, but he appealed several times to Calcutta High Court, Supreme Court, West Bengal governor and President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Kalam rejected Dhananjoy’s mercy petition on Aug. 5 but anti-capital punishment activists refused to give up. They argued that Dhananjoy has spent 13 years on death row and that the “inordinate delay” in his execution has had a “mortal fear” effect on him — which was punishment in itself — and that the death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment.
