[This is an adapted version of a real case from a book which was an anthology of notorious female killers in the 20th Century

The next female killer who took Alyssia’s fancy was Rattan Bai Jan. It was the foreign exotic element in the story of that titillated her.

Rattan Bai Jan

Rattan Bai Jan was found guilty of murdering three members of her family for the insurance money in late 1954 in New Dehli.

The trial attracted huge interest across India due to the appearance & character of the accused woman. Rattan was a very good looking 35 year old woman, who had an air of dynamism about her. She exuded personality & a strong animal magnetism but perhaps her most impressive feature was her dark blue eyes.

She stood in the dock, her face expressionless, wearing a sari of silk & gold which produced a metalic shot-silk effect that was little short of dazzling as she was sentenced to death by hanging

On the 3rd of January 1955 Rattan, who had loved parading herself in a gold- threaded sari, walked unsupported dressed in the white sari traditionally worn by condemned Indian females to the British style gallows in New Dehli prison.

She uttered not a word staring straight ahead impassively standing on the trap as her hands were tied behind her, a strap secured around her sari at the knees, a black hood pulled down over her head & noosed. The executioner pulled the lever releasing the trap doors & Rattan plunged to her doom.

Death was instantaneous, the only movement of the gently swaying body being the spastic reflexive twitching of the lower legs. Rattan Bai Jan achieved the distinction of being the first female to be executed in India in the seven & a half years since Independence

You need to be logged in to view attachments.

  Reply

You need to be logged in to reply.