Yasin Bhatkal verdict: Telangana jails have no place to hang

Hyderabad: Telangana State does not have a single gallows in its prisons and that’s probably because there have been no death sentences carried out here since 1978. Central prisons, in every state, have gallows.

In AP, Rajahmundry prison has a gallow. TS prisons chief V.K Singh said officials had submitted a proposal to set up gallows at the Warangal and Chanchalguda prisons but that’s waiting for an approval.

“We had submitted a proposal to move Warangal and Chanchalguda prisons to different buildings from the current sites. We had also requested to set up gallows. But the proposal has not been approved yet. If the jails are moved, there will be gallows in the premises,” Mr Singh said.

According to officials, every other state has gallows in their central prisons. “But TS is a strange case. It’s not a rule but there is a norm which requires gallows in each state. Perhaps, it’s because the last death sentence carried out here was before 1978,” a senior official said.

“It may be also be because it is a new state and authorities concerned  may have not paid attention to facilities until they were required to do so,” the official added.

Sources said the decision to add or remove gallows rests with the state’s home ministry. After the formation of Telangana, its Home Ministry had never looked into such a problem until the proposal was sent by the prisons department.

If all higher courts uphold Monday's Dilsukhnagar verdict, and of the President of India approves it, it is very likely that the five terrorists will be hanged in Telangana state, officials said.