Dhananjoy Chatterjee – The Most Controversial Death Penalty

Poulami Dasgupta, Institute of Law, Nirma University

INTRODUCTION

Dhananjoy Chatterjee was the first person to be judicially executed in India. He was executed in the Alipore Jail for rape and murder. This case has been one of the most controversial cases. Later several anomalies were found in the procedure of investigation. Even before his death also he didn’t accept the charges that were framed against him. He was the only person who called himself to be innocent even before being hanged.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

Dhanajay Chatterjee was a security guard of a residential complex where an eighteen year old girl Hetal Parekh was found dead. Hetal Parekh was raped and murdered on 5th March 1990 in her flat no. 3-A on the third floor of the Anand Apartment.1 The security guard of the complex that is Dhananjoy Chatterjee was accused of this barbarous crime. On 2.3.1990, Hetal complained to her mother Yashmoti Parekh that Dhananjoy teased her on her way to and back from school and had proposed to her on that day to accompany him to the cinema hall to watch a movie. Previously also she had made similar complaints to her mother. 2 When Hetal’s father came to know about this he requested Shyam Karmakar to replace Dhananjay. Following this complaint Dhananjay was transferred to another apartment which was the Paras Apartment which would come into effect on 5 March 1990.