How Nirbhaya case convicts will be executed

This is the first time that four men will be hanged together in Tihar Jail, South Asia's largest prison complex that houses more than 16,000 inmates.

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.

The execution will take place in the presence of the superintendent, deputy superintendent, medical officer in charge, resident medical officer and the district magistrate or additional district magistrate.

A guard of not less than 10 constables, warders and two head constables, head warders or an equal number from the prison armed guard, will also be present, it states.

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.

Two spare ropes for each prisoner sentenced to death are kept in reserve. After testing, the rope and other equipment will be locked and sealed in a steel box and kept in charge of deputy superintendent, it states. If the prisoner wants, a priest of his faith may be allowed.

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.

The families of the prisoner will not be allowed to witness the executions. All other prisoners will be kept locked till the exercise is over and the bodies removed from the prison.

The manual specifies that a medical officer prepares a report four days ahead of the date of execution, mentioning the length of the drop to be given to the prisoner who is to be executed.

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.

The last hanging in Tihar was on February 9, 2013 when Afzal Guru, a resident of Sopore in north Kashmir, was executed at 8 am and buried on the prison premises for his role in the terror attack on Parliament.