Dhananjoy escapes gallows again, execution stayed

Rape and murder convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee warded off death one more time today, when in a last-minute reprieve just hours before he was t...

Rape and murder convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee warded off death one more time today, when in a last-minute reprieve just hours before he was to be hanged on Friday, the Supreme Court stayed his execution. Around the same time, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam forwarded his mercy petition to the Centre for consideration.

A vacation bench of Justice K .G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Venkatarama Reddi, in a special sitting in-chamber, passed the stay order on a petition challenging the West Bengal Governor’s order rejecting Chatterjee’s mercy plea. The petition was filed in the SC by Chatterjee’s brother Bikash and Bikramjeet Batra. The matter has been fixed for hearing at 2 pm tomorrow after West Bengal standing counsel Tara Chandra Sharma sought time to study the petition and seek instructions from the state.

Simultaneously, Chatterjee’s wife Purnima and mother Belarani sent a mercy plea to the President, who forwarded it to the Union Home Ministry for consideration. Subsequently, the Home Ministry asked the West Bengal government to stay the execution till a decision was taken in this regard.

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Having been sentenced to death in 1991 for raping and killing a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Chatterjee has remarkably managed to stay alive through a series of mysterious lapses, petitions and mercy pleas.

Apart from several NGOs and eminent personalities with Left leanings who have taken up his case, veteran parliamentarian and chief whip of the CPI(M) in Parliament, Basudeb Acharya, has been consistently helping the family. Acharya, whose constituency Chatterjee belongs to, said he was happy at the latest development.

Talking to The Indian Express over phone from Bankura, he said: ‘‘It is very good news that the order for hanging has been stalled. Our party is principally against death sentence. I was the first to write to the President for clemency on behalf of Dhananjoy’s family.’’

However, while another influential CPI(M) leader, Anil Biswas, is equally happy, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee himself hasn’t showed any leniency towards Chatterjee. Records show that the convict’s father and wife made two separate mercy pleas before him in October and November 2003 but both were turned down.

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The most recent petition for mercy on Chatterjee’s behalf was made during the last elections, Acharya said. Asked if the CPI(M) would ask its partner, the Congress, to bring in a legislation at the Centre banning death sentence, he said: ‘‘There should be other, more civilised modes of punishment.’’

Chatterjee’s case has followed a fascinating course from the start, none more amazing than the fact that he has kept away execution despite his humble background. Chatterjee’s own family is poor, though his in-laws are said to be in moneylending business.

Chatterjee was first convicted to death by the Alipore Sessions Court in August 1991, and by 1994, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court, a division bench of the Supreme Court and the President had all upheld the verdict and turned down his mercy pleas.

What happened after then till 2003 remains an unsolved mystery. The prosecution has been questioning why no action was taken against him till last year, when the state judicial department suddenly again started pursuing the case.