How Nirbhaya case convicts will be executed  

With hours left for the execution of four men convicted of rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, the preparation to hang them by the noose is in full swing in Tihar Jail.

Pawan Jallad, the hangman from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district, has been tasked with the duty to hang the four convicts -- Vinay, Akshay, Pawan and Mukesh -- on March 20 at 5:30 am.

It will be carried out as per the guidelines prescribed under the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018.

Tihar Jail Additional Inspector General Raj Kumar told IANS that as shown in movies, no food is offered to the convicts or last wish asked for on the day of the execution.

As per the prison rules, on the day of the execution, the four prisoners sentenced to death will be first marched to the scaffold with their hands pinioned behind their back.

A cotton cap with a flap will then be put on their face just before they enter the gallows enclosures. The Jail Superintendent, District Magistrate and Medical Officer will also be present there.

"The prisoner should not be allowed to see the gallows. The prisoner shall now mount the scaffold and shall be placed directly under the beam to which the rope is attached. The prisoner shall than be made over to the executioner," as per the prison rules.

The executioner will next strap their legs tightly together and adjust the rope tightly round their neck. "The Superintendent shall give a signal, on seeing which the executioner shall push the lever to release the trap-door," according to the rules.

After the execution, bodies of the four men will remain suspended for half an hour before being taken down or until the Resident Medical Officer certifies that their "life is extinct".

The body of executed convicts will then be disposed of according to the requirements of the religion to which they belonged.

According to the rules, a municipal hearse or ambulance would be used to take the bodies to the cremation ground with "solemnity".

"If the executed prisoner's relatives make a written application for performing the last rites, the government may, allow such request, provided that the relatives give an undertaking that they will not make a public demonstration of the cremation."

This is how the whole saga, for which the entire country awaited with bated breath, is projected to come to an end and justice would be imparted to India's daughter, Nirbhaya.