As the country rejoices over the hanging of Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the team of police and officials present during the execution are still reeling under it.
As the country rejoices over the hanging of Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the team of police and officials present during the execution are still reeling under it.
The entire process has left them traumatised.
Kasab was hanged at Yerawada Central Prison at 7.30am on Wednesday in a swift, secret operation.
The team who witnessed the hanging comprised one inspector general of police, two deputy inspector generals of police, the Yerawada jail superintendent and one doctor.
Barring three of them, the others did not know who was to hang.
As the entire process took all the officials by surprise, the execution left them shaken and disturbed.
While some had take to leave, the few who worked on Thursday went home early, complaining of ill health.
Although a senior officer was elated to be part of the core team, which saw justice being delivered, it took a toll on him. ‘I could not sleep at all. The eerie sound of the trap door being thrown open kept ringing in my ears,” he said.
The common complaint of those present at Yerawada was that the scene of Kasab’s shrouded body plunging to his death, kept replaying in their minds throughout the night.
All of them spent a sleepless night. The officials also said that they were unable to eat properly. The officer, who worked on Thursday, said he was unable to concentrate on his work. Complaining of a severe headache, he went home early.
Psychiatrists said the officers were suffering from trauma, the obvious reaction of the brain, after witnessing the hanging. “The basic instincts of a human brain is to preserve life. The group of officers present had to witness something contrary, thus the trauma,” said psychiatrist Dr Arvind Panchnadikar.
He added that major police forces across the world and teams of officers attend a session by a psychiatrist before being witness to such deaths. However, sources in the Yerawada jail said no such session was arranged.
Moreover, civilians are usually the most affected as they never have any experience of such situation, he added.
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