AT THE END OF A LONG ROPE

Pawan Kumar Jallad, the hangman to execute the Nirbhaya death row convicts, will not allow his debut to become a soap opera

- Sneha Bhura

The first time Pawan Kumar Jallad assisted his grandfather, Kallu Ram, as a hangman, he was all of 23. The year was 1988. At the Patiala Central Jail, two brothers sentenced to death in a case of family violence were snuffed out of existence at the hands of expert executioner Kallu Ram. On the phone from Meerut before agreeing to meet us, Pawan, 54, says that the Patiala hanging was the most valuable learning experience in carrying out a perfect legal execution. You might expect him to offer details on the nature of the knot or the size of the noose as per the physique of the convict, but Pawan, whose profession is tied to his identity, thanks to his surname (Jallad, in Hindi, means executioner), is not so detail-oriented. “No, I did not feel anything on my first day,” he deadpans. He outlines the sequence of a hanging in a rough, staccato, businesslike fashion: “First, you tie the legs, then you put the cloth over the head, then you place the noose around the neck and then pull the lever. Two brothers hanged together; one plank, one lever.”