My Article for KolkataMirror.com (ToI website)

Tough To Fill

Find out how ready Alipore Jail is to execute a death sentence after the demise of hangman Nata Mallick

Posted On Wednesday, February 24, 2010

By- Annesh Bilas Thakur

Alipore Jail

Kolkata: Since Dhananjay’s death sentence in 2004, a corporal punishment has not been issued to any criminal in the Alipore Jail, Kolkata.

Nata Mallick, the man who tightened the noose around a criminal’s neck, is long dead and Alipore Jail has not employed anyone else in that position.

This form of corporal punishment has always faced opposition from Human Rights activists. However, it is not only a question of whether a death sentence should be ordered by the courts, but also a question of employment for men.

The hangman, 87-year-old, Nata Mallick, declared soon after the hanging that had catapulted him to international fame that it was his last act as a hangman. Having so far acted as hangman in 25 years of cases since independence, he had started a new livelihood by selling puja items on the streets near a Kali temple. He died in 2009, December 15.

A hangman’s job depends on the weight of the person to be hanged. A sack is filled with sand with the same weight as the man and then mock hangings are held three to four times.

Nata Mallick on his death bed

Sadly, today the job is vacant but has no takers. Nata Mallik’s father was also a hangman and a reputed one at it but none of his children ever took to the profession.

When the authorities in Alipore Jail were approached for comment, most denied and all we could get was a little inside story from a clerk with the jailor, “We don’t employ people any more as criminals will not be hanged any more. The law will undergo change to correctional homes or so they say!”

It is believed that the “Hanged till Death” sentence should be abolished, and manyNGOs are fighting cases for the same. “Other than Nata Mallick, we never had a hangman. We have to look for a new hangman since we expect plenty of convicts to be sentenced to death. It is a tough vacancy to fill and people must be trained in such stuff,” said the jail minister (name withheld on request).