- Title: INDIA: ANTI HANGING PROTESTS AS MURDERER OF TEENAGE GIRLS IS EXECUTED
- Date: 13th August 2004
- Summary: (U1) CALCUTTA, INDIA (AUGUST 14, 2004) (ANI--ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF ALIPORE PRISON, WHERE RAPE AND MURDER CONVICT DHANANJOY CHARABORTY WAS HANGED 0.05 2. WIDE OF PRISON GATES BEING CLOSED 0.16 4. HAV OF VAN DRIVING IN PRISON YARD 0.22 5. WIDE OF EXTEROR OF PRISON AND STREET 0.26 6. CLOSE OF SIGN "ALIPORE JAIL" 0.31 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) JOYDEB CHAKRABORTY, INSPECTOR GENERAL PRISONS, SAYING: "The execution was carried out at the right time 4.30 a.m.. And after post mortem, the body was handed over to Hindu Satkar Samiti for cremation." 0.48 (NIGHT SCENES) 8. WIDE OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TAKING OUT A CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL AGAINST THE HANGING 0.57 9. SCU POLICEMEN STANDING 1.01 10. VARIOUS OF ACTIVISTS TAKING OUT THE CANDLELIGHT VIGIL 1.11 11. CLOSE OF PLACARD READING "STOP BARBARIC ACT OF HANGING" 1.15 12. CLOSE OF ANTI HANGING POSTERS 1.20 13. WIDE OF PROTESTORS 1.24 14. CLOSE OF POSTER "ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY" 1.26 15. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) KRITI ROY, SECRETARY, HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION PLATFORM, SAYING: "We want that all the paraphernalia, according to our constitution that should be maintained. He should not be tortured. And his last wishes -- to donate, proves that he was a very kind hearted man." 1.45 (U1) BANKURA, INDIA (AUGUST 13, 2004) (ANI--ACCESS ALL) 16. GVS OF CHATTERJEE'S VILLAGE 1.51 17. SLV EXTERIOR OF CHATTERJEE'S HOUSE 1.55 18. SLV PEOPLE READING NEWSPAPERS 1.59 19. VARIOUS OF MORE OF VILLAGERS READING NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT CHATTERJEE'S HANGING ON FRIDAY 2.10 20. (SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) MUKHTAR BACHAJOK, A NEIGHBOUR, SAYING: "We, the people of Bankura, know that Dhananjoy is guilty. He doesn't deserve forgiveness. But the Supreme Court judge should have given the hearing keeping his plea for mercy in mind." 2.24 21. VARIOUS OF A PHOTOGRAPH OF DHANONJOY CHATTERJEE 2.39 (U1) CALCUTTA, INDIA (AUGUST 13, 2004) (ANI--ACCESS ALL) 18. (SCU SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) BISWANATH CHATTERJEE, WEST BENGAL STATE JAIL MINISTER, SAYING: "He wanted to hear bhajans (religious songs), we said okay we will make arrangements. He did not want to eat anything special. But, let me specify there is nothing called last wish in the jail code. 2.54 19. VARIOUS OF PHOTOGRAPH OF HETAL PAREKH, WEARING GLASSES IN HER SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPH (WEARING NUMBER SEVEN ON HER SHIRT) 3.09 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 28th August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CALCUTTA/BANKURA, WEST BWNGAL, INDIA
- Country: India
- Reuters ID: LVAAHD2AQV4YS9EJI1U99APZMT6P
- Story Text: India executes teenager's murderer amid human rights
protests
Fourteen years after the rape and murder of a
teenage girl in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta, prison
authorities executed the convict in the wee hours of
Saturday (August 14) amid muted protests by a handful of
human rights activists.
Dhananjoy Chatterjee, convicted of rape and murder of
teenager Hetal Parekh in 1990 in eastern Calcutta city, was
hanged at 4.30 a.m.(local time).
Joydeb Chakraborty, Inspector General Prisons,
confirmed the reports of hanging hours later.
"The execution was carried out at the right time 4.30
a.m.. And after post mortem, the body was handed over to
Hindu Satkar Samiti for cremation," Chakraborty told
reporters.
A group of rights activits held a candle light vigil in
front of the jail from early morning, singing songs to keep
their spirits up.
They also carried posters against capital punishment
and slamming the practice of death penalty in India.
They observed two minutes of silence at 4.30 a.m.
Activists under the banner of Human Rights Protection
Platform marched to Alipore Central Correctional Home where
Chatterjee was hanged.
"We want that all the paraphiniers according to our
constitution that should be maintained. He should not be
tortured. And his last wishes to donate proves that he is a
very kind hearted man," said Kriti Roy, secretary, Human
Rights Protection Platform on Friday (August 13).
The fate of Chatterjee, who was due to be hanged in
June, was sealed when President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
rejected his plea for clemency early this month.
Chatterjee had been found guilty of raping and
murdering a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Hetal Parekh, in a city
building where he worked as a security guard.
The death sentence sparked a massive nationwide debate
over the handing of capital punishment, with rights groups
demanding its abolition.
Indian courts rarely award the death penalty and only
about 40 people have been executed in the past 30 years.
Meanwhile in his native village Bankura, the mood was
solemn with relatives and neighbours closely following
every development in this long legal saga through
newspapers.
Mukhtar Bachajok, a neighbour said the court should
have given him a lesser punishment, keeping his mercy plea
in mind.
"We, the people of Bankura, know that Dhananjoy is
guilty. He doesn't deserve forgiveness. But the Supreme
Court judge should have given the hearing keeping his plea
for mercy in mind," Bachajok said.
West Bengal state's jail minister Viswanath Chatterjee
said Dhanajoy wished that he wanted to hear some religious
hymns in his last hours and that was fulffilled.
"He wanted to hear bhajans (religious songs), we said
okay we will make arrangements. He did not want to eat
anything special. But, let me specify there is nothing
called last wish in the jail code," Chatterje said.
Officials said there were more than a dozen convicts on
death row across the country. But their sentences have not
been carried out as their pleas for clemency are pending at
several levels.
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