Decorated Tamil Nadu cop wants to be hangman to execute Nirbhaya’s rapists

A Tamil Nadu policeman has volunteered to be the hangman to execute Nirbhaya’s rapists after learning that Tihar jail does not have a hangman.

A hangman’s job is an unenviable one. But a police head constable in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram district has volunteered to carry out the executions of Nirbhaya’s rapists after learning that Delhi’s Tihar jail does not have a hangman.

Attached to the In-Service Training Centre in the district, 42-year-old S Subash Srinivasan has offered himself to be a hangman to execute the four convicts who were awarded capital punishment two years ago.

In a letter to the Tihar jail authorities on December 6, the head constable had said that he was making the offer after learning from a Tamil daily that there was no hangman at Tihar to carry out the executions.

“The rape and murder of Nirbhaya was an unforgivable gruesome crime and a heinous one. Hence, I am volunteering to be the hangman so that the punishment is not postponed for want of a person to carry out the execution,” says Subash, who joined the police force in 1997.

A post graduate, he is a recipient of the State Government’s Anna Medal for gallantry. He received it from late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2013 for saving a girl from drowning in a well.

Though the Tihar authorities are yet to seek his services, he is happy that his letter has been acknowledged.

“I hope to get a response as and when required. If I get the opportunity, it would be a proud moment for the state police,” says Subash, adding that he would secure the necessary departmental permission from his superiors once he receives a reply.

Admitting that he doesn’t have the training to be a hangman, Subahs says that he is mentally strong to carry out the job and is prepared to undergo the required training from the jail authorities.

“I have taken a vow before our family deity to tonsure my head if I get the permission and execute the death penalty to the Nirbhaya killers,” says the cop whose father was in Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army. A father of two sons, he says his wife and other family members are supporting his bid to be a hangman in this case.

Subash used to perform the last rites for unclaimed bodies to give a dignified funeral. He has performed the last rites of 10 people since 2004.