Bhopal: With around 30 prisoners in jails across Madhya Pradesh been awarded death penalty in different cases, the state is on a hunt for executioners as currently there are no people at the post.
In December last year, Madhya Pradesh became the first Indian state to make rape of girls under the age of 12 a crime punishable by death.
However, to execute death penalties to prisoners, the state apparently doesn’t have executioners. Such is the situation that executioners might be called in from different states.
“I believe there will be a big decline in the number of women harassment cases because of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s law for awarding death sentence to those guilty of raping girls aged 12 or below in the state. It’s true that there are no executioners in the state right now, however, we will abide by the orders and will bring executioners from different places to hang prisoners. We will also recruit new executioners from Madhya Pradesh itself,” jail minister Antar Singh Arya told ANI.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rahul Kothari said: “In such cases, the Madhya Pradesh people will themselves serve as the executioners in such cases. The people in the state are against all such crimes.”
However, the Opposition doubts the state government’s stand.
“When we talk about death penalty, how will they do it without executioners? How will they give punishment to those accused of rape?” questioned Congress leader Manak Agarwal.
ANI