Grotesque idea of execution: Why we are curious about Yakub Memon's walk to the gallows

After Ajmal Kasab in 2012 and Afzal Guru in 2013, India is getting ready for its third execution in a decade with Yakub Memon. Along with last minute debates on whether he is really guilty or not, and how the Indian State picks and chooses its execution targets, what will slowly grip the country in the next couple of weeks are the creepy details of his execution. With Memon’s death by hanging confirmed for 30 July, or a few days later because of another shot at clemency, there will be both a sense of cold fear as well as curiosity about his last moments: the way he is woken up — if at all he manages some sleep before his involuntary death — in the early hours of the day, asked to take a bath, fed the meal of his choice and led to the gallows. We would also like to know if he was terrified or took it easy. [caption id=“attachment_2356594” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Yakub Memon. Ibnlive[/caption] This Indian Express report has vivid details of how the final moments of Memon’s life will roll out. “He would be woken at 3 am and, 10 minutes later, will be asked to take a bath. If he wants a hot shower, it would be provided,” the report said. “At 3.20 am, Memon will be served breakfast, the menu for which would be finalised in consultation with him. If the jail canteen cannot provide the food he wants, it will be ordered from outside… He will be then asked to read any religious book of his choice and, by 3.35 am, taken to the gallows. His hands will be tied behind his back, and his face covered with a cotton cap. After a medical officer confirms death, the news will be communicated to the state home department, which will inform the family.” While the rest of India is in deep sleep, Memon will have the luxury of a hot-bath, a sumptuous meal of his choice, and a calibrated drop to his death. The jail authorities would have already done a rehearsal of his execution using a sand-bag that weighs slightly more than him, and a rope that has undergone a certain production rigour. There are also specifications as to how the noose should be prepared, how it should be lubricated, where exactly it should be placed around his neck, and how far he has to fall beneath the trap-door when the hangman pulls the lever. If the fall is too long, the head may be severed as had happened in the case of one of Saddam Hussain’s aides, and if it’s too short, he will die due to painful strangulation. Executioners believe that if done properly, hanging kills instantly by breaking the neck although literature shows that it’s rarely that easy. After the death, “sources” at the Nagpur jail, who would have witnessed the hanging, will share the gripping details of Memon’s last moments with their media friends —  if he was quiet and cooperative, if he had his bath and his meal, and if he had done anything particularly remarkable before or during his slow march to the gallows. In Kasab’s case, apparently he spent about half an hour bathing and praying, then wore new clothes and underwent a medical check up. He didn’t have any last minute wish and only said “I swear by Allah, I will never commit such a mistake again” before he was hanged. But in the case of Afzal Guru, the only detail that trickled out was that he was calm and wrote a letter to his wife before his death. Every execution in the democratic world is a media event because of the plethora of emotions it evokes — mortal fear, helplessness, pain and outrage. For some, such as the relatives and friends of the victims of the convict, it’s mandatory retribution and closure, while for a lot of others, it’s yet another instance of cold-blooded murder by the State. What’s so cruel and painful about any execution is that life is literally snuffed out of a healthy individual by the State. That’s precisely what a wailing mother of Australian citizen Mayuran Sukumaran, one of the Bali Nine convicts, told the Indonesian government before his execution in April: “He is so healthy and beautiful, please don’t kill him.” Sukumaran and eight others, convicted for smuggling heroin in Indonesia, were shot dead in an island despite Australia’s incessant diplomatic efforts. In a poignant letter to the Indonesian president, his mother said: “My son died knowing all his loved ones were close by waiting in a hotel room to hear the news that he had been executed.” She added that with the execution, she would be punished for the rest of her life. International media had carried graphic details of the preparation for the execution. Every execution is barbaric and the details of the last moments of the convict are benumbing, leading one to a state of emotional vacuum. Take a look at the pictures of these women on death row in China, which kills the largest number of people in the world, but keeps the count a state secret. The cold, existential emptiness that they convey will never leave you. The final walk towards the gallows cannot be anything, but helpless and scary. It’s this intense human interest and people’s affinity to life than death that compelled the great American author Normal Mailer to write a 1000 page Pulitzer winning best-seller, The Executioner’s Song, on the life of Gary Gilmore whose execution in 1976 generated unprecedented global attention., Gilmore’s uncanny last words — “Let’s Do it” as he faced the firing squad, was a rude awakening to the grotesque idea of execution. Mailer, who narrated the final moments with dramatic details, also went on to describe his autopsy. He wrote: “Then, he took out what was left of Gilmore’s heart. Jerry Scott couldn’t believe what he saw. The thing was pulverised. Not even half left. Jerry didn’t recognise it as the heart. Had to ask the doctor. “Excuse me,” he said, “is that it?” The doctor said, “Yup.” Much before Mailer, George Orwell also had found creative purpose in artfully describing an execution he witnessed in his 1931 essay, A Hanging. It was heart-rending, but we couldn’t stop reading it because we are terrified of death and love life. Memon’s execution will be another setback to the campaign against death penalty. The only saving grace for India is that despite its free-wheeling death sentences, it rarely hangs people. In the last ten years, Indian courts have sentenced a few hundred people to death, but only two have been sent to the gallows. But, the country then picks up cases with a political significance, which is defective both in law and its fairness.