Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

PATNA: For the first time since 2013, Buxar Central Prison near the Uttar Pradesh border in Bihar, has been asked to produce 10 specialised Manila ropes for the country’s hangmen. Prison Department sources said in Patna that “such ropes for the hangmen are not prepared normally unless there is concrete demand.”

The last ‘order’ for a rope the Buxar jail received was from Maharashtra to execute Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistan terrorist involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack. Superintendent of Buxar Central prison Vijay Kumar Arora said, “We are anticipating demand for hanging ropes in the near future. The ropes are being prepared on the directives of senior prison department officials.”

However, it is not immediately clear who are in the line to be hanged. Vinay Sharma, one of four sentenced to death in the 2012 Nirbaya gang-rape case withdrew his mercy petition on Saturday.

Arora said a group of prison weavers has been identified for the rope making, adding it is a complex task.

He said about 10 ropes would be ready within 25 days.

“A group of eight UTs would be fashioning the ropes with the help of a power loom through twist and torque technique using J-30 cotton.”

He said, “One rope is prepared with 7,200 fine threads — all merged by hand and rolled in together with a bronze bush and treated with certain chemicals so that each one can bear up to 150 kg weight.” Prison officials say a single specialised rope takes at least three days to be fashioned and the input cost works out to C1,700-2,000, depending on the cost of material used and length demanded. The ideal length of a hanging rope is about 16 feet.

Buxar Central jail has been supplying ropes to different jails throughout the country since 1930. In the past, the jail has supplied Manila Ropes to Bhagalpur Central Jail to hang convicts sentenced to death in 1992 and in 1995. A rope was ordered by the West Bengal government in 2004 for the execution of Dhananjay Chatterjee in Alipore Jail.

Tihar jail in search for a hangman

With no hangman in Tihar jail, where the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case are lodged, the authorities are in talks with other prisons to get a hangman. Informal talks are on with Uttar Pradesh authorities, source said

Afsal Guru last to be executed

The 2001 Parliament attack convict was the last to be hanged in Tihar jail. He was executed in 2013

Rs 1,700 is the cost of making one rope. The process takes about three days