NAGPUR Central Jail currently houses 16 convicts who have been awarded the death sentence by various courts.The Nagpur Jail stands second in Maharashtra when it comes to convicts on death row, after Yerwada Jail, which has 21 such convicts. Of these 16 convicts, the case of SampatVasant Dupare, convicted for the rape and brutal murder of a four-year-old girl in Nagpur’s Wadi area, has reached its final stage. His mercy petition was rejected by the President of India, but he has now approached the Supreme Court once again against the rejection.

 

An official of Prison Department informed ‘The Hitavada’ that a death sentence is awarded in the “rarest of rare” cases for heinous crimes such as murder. The sentence must be confirmed by the High Court before execution and further appeals are possible in the Supreme Court. Many of the convicts in Nagpur Central Jail are in different stages of legal proceedings, with some cases pending in the Supreme Court or Bombay High Court. The Nagpur Central Jail was established in 1864 during the British era and is one of only two jails in Maharashtra, along with Yerwada Central Jail, that has a dedicated execution facility known as the ‘Fansi Yard’.

 

Due to this facility, many death row convicts are lodged in Nagpur Central Jail from across the State. Among those incarcerated in Nagpur Central Jail are convicts sentenced to death for their involvement in terrorist attacks, including the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, the 2006 Mumbai Railway bomb blasts and the 2008 Zaveri Bazaar bomb blast. The officials indicate that prisoners on death row are kept in a separate yard. The last execution at Nagpur Central Jail was that of Mumbai bomb blast convictYakub Memon, who was hanged in the‘FansiYard’ on July 30, 2015. Memon was convicted for funding the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, which claimed 257 lives. Before him, the last executions in Nagpur Central Jail were those of the Wankhede brothers from Amravati in 1984, who were convicted of murder. Since India’s independence, a total of 21 prisoners have been executed at Nagpur Central Jail, with the first execution taking place on August 25, 1950.