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CHAPTER 20
EXECUTION OF SENTENCES

PART C -- WHIPPING

Mode of infliction.-- Sentence of whipping shall be executed by the infliction of the punishment on the buttocks of the person sentenced, with a rattan in the usual manner.

The rattan used should not be more than four feet in length and shall be half an inch in diameter and in the case of juvenile offenders a still lighter cane shall be employed. The triangle should be boarded on the side next the offender, so as to prevent the possibility of the rattan curling round and touching the front or any other part of his person than the breech.

In the case of persons under 16 years of age, whipping shall be inflicted on the buttocks in the way of school discipline, with a rattan not more than half an inch in diameter.

2. Flogging should be inflicted in private in the presence of a medical officer, a thin cloth to be spread over the buttocks.-- (i) All Judicial floggings shall be inflicted in private, either at a jail, or in an enclosure near the court-house.

(ii) Wherever it is possible to do so, Magistrates shall secure the presence of a medical officer at the flogging.

(iii) The practice shall invariably be adopted of spreading a thing cloth soaked in some anti-septic over the prisoner's buttocks during the operation.

A pattern of the cloth used is supplied by the Superintendent of the Central Jail, Lahore, and the following is the manner in which it should be used. When the prisoner to be shipped is laid on the triangle, his jangias should be slipped down below the knees and the cloth put round the buttocks. The triangle belt keeps the upper part of the cloth in its place, while the two pieces of tape are tied round the thighs below.

3. Magistrate to certify that the prisoner is in a fit state of health.-- Magistrate who are empowered to pass sentences of whipping should, before the sentence is carried into execution, be careful in every case to satisfy themselves that the offender is in a fit state of health to undergo the punishment. Whenever practicable, the opinion of a medical officer should be taken, but, if that is not procurable, the Magistrate must himself certify in each case that he believes the offender to be in a fit state to undergo the punishment.

4. Not to be inflicted until lapse of 15 days or until sentence is confirmed on appeal.-- Every sentence of whipping is now subject to appeal. When an accused person sentenced to whipping only furnishes bail to the satisfaction of the Court or when the punishment of whipping is combined with imprisonment, section 391 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires that the whipping is not to be inflicted until after the expiry of fifteen days from the date of sentence, or if an appeal be preferred, within that time, until the sentence is confirmed by the superior Court.

To secure effect being given to this provision of the Code the following rules have been made by the High Court:-

(i) Filing of appeal should be notified to the Jail Superintendent.-- In all cases in which an appeal is preferred within fifteen days from the date on which a sentence of whipping is passed, whether or not such appeal is preferred through the jail authorities under a power attested in the Jail, immediate intimation of the fact of the appeal shall be given to the Superintendent of the Jail in which the appellant is confined.

Explanation:- An appeal presented to the Superintendent of the Jail within fifteen days is made within the period contemplated in this rule.

(ii) Jail Superintendent may wait for such further time as is necessary for communication from the appellate Court.-- If no such intimation of an appeal having been preferred is received within fifteen days, the Superintendent of the Jail shall, nevertheless, allow such further time to elapse as is necessary for a communication from the Appellate Court to reach him in the ordinary course of business before inflicting the whipping.

(iii) Sessions Judge to decide for what further time the Jail Superintendent should wait.-- Sessions Judges shall, in communication with Magistrates of District and Superintendents of Jails, fix, for their own Courts and the Appellate Courts subordinate to them, the number of days which shall be allowed under the preceding rule.

(iv) Copy of order of whipping be given to accused.-- In cases in which a sentence of whipping is passed, a copy of the Court's order should be furnished to the person affected as soon as possible after his application therefor.

5. Magistrate should ensure that sentence has been duly carried out.-- The following steps should be taken to ensure that sentences of whipping, not combined with any other punishment, are duly carried into execution, where it is not convenient that the whipping should be inflicted in the presence of the Magistrate who passed the sentence. In such cases the Magistrate should issue a warrant under section 390 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, setting the time and place at which the sentence should be executed, and this warrant should be immediately returned to the Magistrate who passed the sentence when the whipping has been inflicted or execution of the sentence has been stayed under section 394 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Magistrates should carefully watch the return of this warrant, and, if undue delay takes place, should inquire why it has not been returned.

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