The rape and murder Bengal forgot all about

The memory of what happened to his only daughter still makes Nagar Das Parekh sick. But he could have never imagined his nightmare would go ...

The memory of what happened to his only daughter still makes Nagar Das Parekh sick. But he could have never imagined his nightmare would go on for 14 years, that the rapist and murderer of his 18-year-old child would stall justice for more than a decade because the state that was supposed to execute it plain forgot!

Now that the stage is finally set for the execution of Dhananjay Chatterjee, Parekh doesn’t know if there’s anything to rejoice. Choking back tears, the father who is now in Mumbai says: ‘‘I have come to know about the execution…I fail to understand why it was delayed for so long. However, it was a nightmare that I don’t want to remember. Whenever somebody reminds me, I become sick.’’Last week, the Sessions Judge of Alipore Court, which first tried the case, signed the death warrant of Chatterjee following the rejection by a division bench of the Calcutta High Court of a review petition by the convict. Lodged in Presidency Central Jail since the day of the incident, Chatterjee is in his ’40s, married with a kid.

On March 15, 1990, say police, 18-year-old Hental was raped and killed by Chatterjee, a security guard at their south Kolkata apartment building. Her parents had gone out and left the keys to their apartment with Chatterjee, telling him to hand these over to Hental when she returned from school. However, when the girl came home, Chatterjee followed her inside, raped and killed her.

Just a few months after that, Hental’s parents, unable to forget their daughter’s ghastly death at the Kolkata home, shifted to Mumbai.

The Alipore Sessions Judge found the case straightforward and first sentenced Chatterjee to death in 1991. In the four years that followed, Chatterjee appealed against the verdict to the high court and the Supreme Court, as well as filed mercy petitions to the governor and the President. All were rejected.

On March 16, 1994, the lawyers of Chatterjee again filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court to review the death sentence. The court stayed the execution.

	Justice delayed and delayed: now hangman wants a raise!

	• March 1990: Dhananjay Chatterjee rapes, kills 18-year-old Hental Parekh • August 1991: Alipore Court sentences Chatterjee to death • August 1992: HC upholds sentence • November 1994: S C upholds too. Story continues below this ad • Feb 1994: Mercy petitions filed to the governor, President. Both rejected • March 1994: Chatterjee moves HC to review President’s rejection. Gets a stay on execution • November 2003: Justice Department wakes up, asks HC why stay still not vacated. Court lifts stay • January 2004: HC rejects Chatterjee’s fresh mercy plea, Alipore Court signs his death warrant. Executioner says he needs a raise Story continues below this ad

Mysteriously, for the next 10 years, the state forgot all about the case. Until November last year, when the Law and Justice Department of the state government ‘‘chanced upon the case while going through some files’’ and wrote to the Chief Justice of the high court asking why the stay hadn’t been vacated so long.

The high court promptly lifted the stay but Chatterjee then filed another mercy petition. This was rejected by the high court about a fortnight ago, paving the way for the execution.

The 14-year wait for justice shocks even members of the judiciary. Chief Public Prosecutor of Calcutta High Court Qazi Mohammad Saifullah says: ‘‘There is something grossly wrong, otherwise how does one explain this inertia?’’

Kolkata police officials who had investigated the case are equally angry. ‘‘The man should have been punished much earlier. Think of the ghastly crime. The poor girl choked to death while she was being raped,’’ says an officer who had been a member of the police team that investigated the case.

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But West Bengal Minister for Law and Justice Nisith Adhikary points at the usual suspect—the huge number of cases pending in the high court. ‘‘Thousands of cases are pending at various courts, including the high court. And the government cannot pick up one single case out of this huge number,’’ he claims. And then adds: ‘‘Why do you want us to be overzealous for snuffing out the life of a man?’’

While Chatterjee’s lawyers claim they have another petition pending in the Supreme Court, Inspector General, Prisons, Joydev Chakrabarthy says this time it won’t delay the execution. ‘‘We have got in touch with our hangman, Nata Mullick, and are now working on the formalities for the execution. The rope is also ready,’’ he says. However, according to reports, there may still be a hitch. West Bengal’s only remaining hangman Mullick last carried out an execution 12 years ago. He reportedly wants a hike to do the job now.