New Delhi: One of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case knocked at the gates of the Supreme Court in the dead of the night on Thursday but a 3-judge Bench led by Justice Mrs Banumathi raced against time to dismiss quash the petition.
This was just 90 minutes before he and the three others were hanged in Tihar Jail.
It was 3 a.m. when the four were led out of their barracks for a brief time. They were already up as the fear of the impending doom did not allow them to sleep.
When the authorities asked them to finish their routine and wear new clothes provided by the Tihar authorities, they broke down and fell at the feet of the jail staff.
"It's not right to reveal their identity, but they were not in the right state of mind and wanted to talk to jail workers but could not say a single word. They even refused to have tea when it was offered," a Tihar jail source said.
According to another source, "At around 5 a.m. the DCP of West District met the convicts and completed the documentation formalities." They were then taken out from their cells and their faces covered with cloth.
An officer, requesting anonymity, told IANS: "They were not reacting
to anything before their faces were covered but soon after they realised that they have reached the gallows, one of them broke down and started crying and screaming. He almost fell down on the floor."
Each of the convicts was accompanied by six wardens who led them to the hanging platform. When their feet were being tied, one of them started resisting but the security personnel restrained him.
Now, it was the time to deliver justice to Nirbhaya. All the convicts were supposed to be hanged at the same time but Pawan was the only hangman present to pull the lever, hence, the jail staff helped in pulling the other handles. Finally, at 5.30 a.m. when Jail Superintendent S. Sunil signalled that it was time to hang the convicts, Pawan and the other persons pulled the handles. After 30 minutes, the doctor who was present there, declared the convicts dead and their bodies were sent for post-mortem examination to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital.
