India needs executioners

India is preparing to carry out its first hangings since 2004. The two men being hanged are Mahendra Nath Das, a convicted murderer, and Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, convicted of plotting terrorist attacks for the Khalistan Liberation Force, a militant Sikh group. But who’s doing the hanging is unclear: This week it was revealed that ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

India is preparing to carry out its first hangings since 2004. The two men being hanged are Mahendra Nath Das, a convicted murderer, and Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, convicted of plotting terrorist attacks for the Khalistan Liberation Force, a militant Sikh group. But who's doing the hanging is unclear:

India is preparing to carry out its first hangings since 2004. The two men being hanged are Mahendra Nath Das, a convicted murderer, and Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, convicted of plotting terrorist attacks for the Khalistan Liberation Force, a militant Sikh group. But who’s doing the hanging is unclear:

This week it was revealed that the state of Assam, where 45-year-old Das is being held, no longer employs an executioner, so rare is the need.

"As there is no hangman in the state, the exact date of execution is yet to be fixed," the head of Jorhat jail, where Das is being held, told the Times of India newspaper.

Not really sure what the qualifications are for that. Amnesty International links back to this interview with the state-appointed executioner of Mecca, featured on Passport in 2006 — the most renounced executioner in Saudi Arabia. 

 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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