Dharampal to be hanged in Ambala jail: DGP

Dharampal, a rape convict who murdered five members of the victim`s family while out on parole in 1993, will be hanged in Ambala prison, Haryana jail authorities said Thursday after the President rejected his mercy petition. The DGP said the hanging will be carried out in Ambala jail, where the last execution had taken place in 1989, but no date has been fixed. "This is for the government to decide," he said.

Dharampal was charged with raping a girl in Sonepat in 1991 and was given a 10-year jail sentence in 1993. Shortly after being granted parole in 1993, he bludgeoned to death the girl`s parents, a sister and two brothers while they were sleeping at their home. While Haryana has 19 jails, only the ones in Ambala and Hisar have the requisite facilities for hanging. Dharampal and his brother Nirmal were awarded death penalty for the murders in 1997. The sentence was upheld by the High Court a year later. However, in 1999, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Nirmal to life imprisonment. PTI