Dhananjoy Chatterjee (14 August 1965 – 14 August 2004) was the first person who was judicially executed in India in the 21st century for rape and murder. The execution by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

took place in

Alipore Jail The Alipore Jail or Alipore Central Jail, also known as Presidency Correctional Home, is a defunct Indian prison in Alipore, Kolkata, where political prisoners were kept under British rule. It also housed the Alipore Jail Press. It is no longer ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, on 14 August 2004. He was charged in 1990 for the crimes of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

of Hetal Parekh, an 18-year-old school-girl. This was the first hanging in West Bengal since 21 August 1991 at

Personal life

Dhananjoy was born in Kuludihi,

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, India, and worked as a security guard in

. He had married Purnima just eight months before he was arrested in the Hetal Parekh case by falsely claiming he was working in the

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is a central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was formed in the wake of the Indo-Pak War of 196 ...

when he was only a security guard. Purnima worked as an

Anganwadi Anganwadi () is a type of rural child care centre in India. It was started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. ''Anganwadi'' in Hindi means ...

worker with a salary of Rs 1,200 per month and after his execution lived with her parents. Even after the execution of her husband she has refused to remarry.

Case details

Hetal Parekh was a student of

Welland Gouldsmith School Welland Gouldsmith School (WGS) is a primary, secondary and senior secondary school in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. WGS has two branches, one at Bowbazar and the other at Patuli. The Bowbazar branch was established in 1869 and the patuli branc ...

Bowbazar Bowbazar, also spelt ''Boubazar''; formerly known as Bahubazar) is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History On Lt. Col. Mark Wood's map of 1784, the portion of the eastward road from L ...

, Kolkata. She used to live with her parents and elder brother in a third floor flat of Anand Apartments in

Bhawanipore Bhowanipore (also Bhowanipur; ) is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History In 1717, the East India Company obtained the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement from ...

. The Parekhs moved into this flat in 1987. Dhananjoy was a security guard of this agency. He had worked in that building for about three years. On 5 March 1990, Dhananjoy performed security duty during the morning shift (6 am to 2 pm). Hetal left for her ICSE examination at about 7:30 am. After the examination, she returned home. In the afternoon, only Hetal and her mother were there in the flat. Hetal's mother went to visit a temple in the vicinity in the afternoon. After returning from the temple, she being unable to enter her home, despite repeated knocking, asked some servants of other flats to break the door open. Hetal was found lying dead near the door connecting the living room with the Parekh couple's bedroom with blood stains on her face and on the floor. Two local doctors examined Hetal and declared her dead. Dhananjoy was not seen in the area after the murder had been discovered. He became the focal point of police investigations. He was eventually arrested by the police from his village home at Kuludihi near

Chhatna Chhatna is a village and a gram panchayat in the Chhatna (community development block), Chhatna Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Bankura Sadar subdivision of the Bankura district in the state of West Bengal, India. History ...

Bankura Bankura () is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bankura district. Etymology It comes from the old Austric word ráŕhá or ráŕho which means “land of red soil”.P.R. Sarkar Rarh - ...

, in the early hours of 12 May 1990. The case was investigated by the Detective Department of

Kolkata Police The Kolkata Police () (formerly "Calcutta Police"), is the Law enforcement in India, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within the Kolkata metropolitan region, metropolitan area of the city of Kolkata, ...

. The

chargesheet In policing on the Indian subcontinent, a chargesheet is prepared after first information reports (FIRs), and charges an individual for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those reports. Once the chargesheet has been submitted to a cour ...

prepared by the police included the charges of

and the

theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

of a wrist watch. The trial took place in the second court of the Additional Sessions Judge at Alipore. Since there was no direct witness to the murder, the case hinged on

circumstantial evidence Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly, i.e., without need ...

only. After the sessions court convicted Dhananjoy of all the offenses and sentenced him to death, the High Court at Calcutta and the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

upheld the

conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...

and the

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. The

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

convicted Dhananjoy and regarded the crime as a heinous combination of offenses, aggravated by the fact that as a security guard Dhananjoy had been in charge of the victim's safety—enough to make it belong to the ''rarest of rare'' category of crimes''-''warranting a death sentence.

Claims of innocence

Dhananjoy had claimed repeatedly during his trial that he was completely innocent and that he had nothing to do with the murder, rape or theft. He maintained his stance till the day of his

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

Controversies

Some academics and lawyers have questioned the validity of the death sentence and the proceedings of the trial. Professors from ISI Kolkata—Debasish Sengupta, Probal Chaudhuri and Paramesh Goswami have conducted investigative journalism on the issue; publishing the findings in a book titled ''Adalat-Media-Samaj Ebaṃ Dhananjayer Fansi'' (Court-Media-Society and The Hanging of Dhananjoy). It criticized the handling of the case, the media-trial and faulted the delivered judgement.

Execution

Dhananjoy's execution was scheduled on 25 June 2004. It was stayed after his family petitioned the

, and filed a mercy plea with the then President Dr.

APJ Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam ( ; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the president of India from 2002 to 2007. Born and raised in a Muslim family in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Kala ...

. On 26 June 2004, a campaign to ensure Dhananjoy's hanging was initiated. Meera Bhattacharjee, wife of

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (1 March 1944 – 8 August 2024) was an Indian Communism, communist politician and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who served as the 7th List of Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Chief M ...

the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, led the campaign. Several individuals and human rights groups came forward to oppose the execution. The mercy plea was finally rejected by the president on 4 August 2004. The date of Dhananjoy's execution was fixed at a high-level meeting at the office of Jail Minister

Biswanath Chowdhury Biswanath Chowdhury (1 August 1942 – 27 July 2024) was an Indian Revolutionary Socialist Party politician, and a MLA from Balurghat eight times. He was the West Bengal minister for Jails and Social Welfare for quarter of a century. Seven-ti ...

. He was executed on 14th August 2004. The family refused to claim his body and it was later

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

Media

Dhananjay, a film based on the events of the case was released on 11 August 2017 regionally and on

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

. The film was directed by Arindam Sil, and cast

Anirban Bhattacharya Anirban Bhattacharya (born 7 October 1986) is an Indian actor, theatre actor, singer and director. Bhattyacharya won ABP Ananda Sera Bangali Award in 2022. In 2017, Bhattacharya won WBFJA Awards for Best Promising Actor of The Year. Career H ...

and Mimi Chakraborty in the lead roles. The film is based on the book "''Adalat-Media-Samaj Ebong Dhananjayer Fashi''". The film also received objection from Dhananjay's family after initially agreeing with the development of the project

References

External links

"''Dhananjoy to be hanged''"
– article in the

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

dated 5 August 2004 referring to his mercy petition being rejected by the President of India
"''Dhananjoy Chatterjee to be hanged on Saturday''"
– article in the

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

on 11 August 2004
"''On death row Chatterjee gets a reprieve''"
– article in HTTabloid.com dated 11 August 2004
"''Dhananjoy Chatterjee cremated''"
– article in Indian Express dated 14 August 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterjee, Dhananjoy 1965 births 2004 deaths 21st-century executions by India Executed Indian people Indian murderers of children Indian people convicted of murder Indian people convicted of rape Indian people convicted of child sexual abuse Violence against women in India Sex crimes in India Criminals from West Bengal People convicted of murder by India People executed by India by hanging People executed for murder