Rapist-murderer hanged in India amid protest Date:     KOLKATA: As this city stirred awake, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was Saturday hanged at dawn for raping and murdering a schoolgirl here after a protracted trial that became the focus of an anti-capital punishment campaign in India. With the clock striking 4.30 a.m., 84-year-old hangman Nata Mallick, assisted by three relatives, pulled an iron lever that sent Chatterjee spiralling down into an empty chamber through a trap-door and snuffed the life out of him after a few short convulsions. This was the first hanging in India in almost a decade. "The execution of death sentence of Dhananjoy Chatterjee alias Dhana has duly been carried out," said a statement issued by the authorities of Alipore Jail, where the hanging took place. After a quick autopsy, Chatterjee's body, which was not claimed by his family, was handed over to a voluntary organisation that helps cremate unclaimed bodies. His funeral took place at around 8 a.m. in a city crematorium. Hangman Mallick, who carried out his 25th execution when he hanged Chatterjee, complained of giddiness shortly before the hanging and asked to be given some time to "collect himself". Mallick, a third generation hangman who has been in the business for over six decades and has often bragged about his mental strength, however, felt strong enough to proceed with his duty. The hanging went off smoothly, but soon Mallick was carried in a stretcher into a waiting ambulance. A jail official, refusing to be identified, said Mallick's illness could be because of drinking. While preparations went on inside the jail for the execution, a group of rights activists opposed to capital punishment held a candlelight vigil in front of the jail from around 2 a.m. They sang songs like "We shall overcome" and displayed posters with messages protesting capital punishment. "Stop capital punishment", "Stop the barbaric practice of death penalty", "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and the world would soon be blind and toothless" -- read some of the posters. The protestors observed two minutes of silence at 4.30 a.m. when Chatterjee was hanged. Then they dispersed quietly. Chatterjee's punishment had become the focus of anti-capital punishment campaigners in India. A city-based rights group, Association of Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), and leading Bengali intellectuals spoke against death sentences saying capital punishment did not act as a deterrent to crimes. Even the European Union (EU) handed India a demarche on June 23 asking the authorities to abolish capital punishment. But all this couldn't save Chatterjee who raped and killed a 14-year-old Hetal Parekh in 1989 in a Kolkata building where she lived and he worked as a security guard. The hanging, the first in India since 1995, generated an immense interest in the media as dozens of journalists gathered from midnight outside the jail, a British-built red edifice that stands right in the middle of a busy crowded south Kolkata neighbourhood. All roads leading to the jail were closed to traffic. Heavy security arrangements were made around the jail. Before climbing the raised platform in the courtyard of the jail to reach the gallows, Chatterjee, the son of a Brahmin priest, said a prayer. Then, speaking in Bengali to the officials around him, he said: "God bless you all." "He had some sweetmeat and a little bit of curd before stepping on to the gallows. He was calm all the while," West Bengal police inspector general (jails) Joydeb Chakraborty told reporters a short while after the hanging. As Chatterjee walked to the gallows, religious songs were played in keeping with his last wish. However, another of his wishes - to donate his eyes - could not be honoured because his family did not give consent to it. The news that their eldest son Chatterjee was hanged at a city jail plunged the family into mourning even as some neighbours came to console them and spoke of their support to them. Chatterjee's younger brother, Bikas, told reporters at their home in Kuludihi village in Bankura district, about 240 km west of here, that his mother had fainted repeatedly as the hour of execution drew near. The death brought to an end a protracted legal battle that saw Chatterjee moving the Supreme Court twice and appealing to two Indian presidents for commutation of his punishment. However, his appeals were turned down at every forum.