Gallows get new lease of life

NEW DELHI: With nine Tihar Jail inmates on death row, the gallows located inside the high-security area of jail number 3 have been redone. The wooden panels and planks were recently given a makeover in metal and the noose handle was greased to get it back in working condition after 15 years. While the high court has upheld the death sentence of four inmates, the decision about four others is pending.There is, however, one convict — Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar — whose sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court as well. His mercy petition before the President has been pending since January 2003. He was convicted of engineering the bomb attack at the Youth Congress office in the 1980s in which four persons were killed. Over the years, the wooden structure of the gallows had worn out thanks to the myth that a piece of the gallows' wood makes children more intelligent and brave towards supernatural elements. The little piece of wood is usually kept in the child's books or made into a tabeez. As the wood was being chipped at regularly, the structure of the gallows had been getting weak. The prison also has no hang man. If the need arises one will be called from the nearest possible area, inform jail officials. The last execution that took place in Tihar was in 1989. Since then the gallows have been silent. Sunil Kumar Gupta, the law officer and PRO of Tihar confirmed the belief about the gallows. He said: "Many people from the lower economic strata also believe that if a baby is delivered inside the jail it will be a boy. We had to finally conduct a survey and get the exact figures of the number of boys and girls delivered in the jail to dispel this myth. The myth about children becoming more intelligent remains though."