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The Aeroplane
Treatment: About the first thing that suspected terrorists or harbourers
were put through in the backrooms of many police stations in the Punjab
in those dark years of terror. Gradually, in many places, it replaced
intelligent questioning, Security forces in Kashmir also made wild use
of it. It has caused limbs to be amputated and even death. The accused
is hung upside down. It starts getting bad as soon as the blood rushes
to the head. The second stage of torture commences from here, starting
with the beating of the soles. Even without this, heavily-built men can
withstand the ‘aeroplane’ treatment only for a few seconds. Lighter
men can put up with it for not more than ten minutes. The Bombay Cuf: A variant of the aeroplane; method: The prisoner’s hands are tied behind his back and a pipe is placed under his knees. He is then elevated just above ground level. It is impossible for anybody to remain in that position, with the body weight entirely on the knees, for more than a few seconds. The Roller Method: Perfected in Kashmir, the prisoner is forcibly laid on his back. Then a round pole is rolled over his legs and body, sometimes with the tortures standing on either end of it and rolling it up and down. Terribly painful, and with long term consequences. Cog Needle: A thin iron rod is inserted through the umbilicus, tearing the skin and the muscles, or up the anus damaging the muscles, or up the arms damaging the mucus membrane and other parts of the rectum. Bellary: One of the oldest torture techniques, and still prevalent. A stick smeared with red chilli powder or green chilli paste is thrust into the anus. Breast Ripper: Cold or red-hot, the four claws slowly ripped to formless masses the breasts of countless women condemned for heresy, blasphemy, adultery and many other “libidinous acts”, self-induced abortion, erotic white magic and other crimes. In various places at various times –in some regions of France and Germany until the early nineteenth century– a “bite” with a red-hot ripper was inflicted upon one breast of unmarried mothers, often whilst their creatures, splattered with maternal blood, writhed on the ground at their feet. Besides the punitive function, breast-ripping also served as an interrogational and juridical procedure. Head Crusher/Head Screw: Recorded in sources dating as early as the Middle Ages, head crushers enjoy the esteem of the authorities in many parts of the world today. The victim’s chin is placed on the lower bar, and the cap forced down by the screw. All comment seems superfluous. First the teeth are crushed into their sockets and smash the surrounding bone, then the eyes are forced out of their sockets, and finally the brain squirts through the fragmented skull. Although nowadays no longer a means of capital punishment, head crushers are still used for interrogation. The modern caps and chin rests are padded with soft materials so as to leave no mark on the victim. Examples of headcrushers can be seen in the Tower of London and at the Tijuana, Mexico Cultural Center. Head Screw Another very effective device was the Head Screw. It consisted of a metal hoop, which could be put around one's forehead and the back of the head. With a screw the hoop could be tighten more and more, so that the delinquent was afraid of having his head crushed. This caused extreme panic, so that nearly every confession could be reached. The Pear: These instruments were used –and still are, no longer ornamented but otherwise not much changed– in oral and rectal formats, like the present specimen, and in the larger vaginal one. They are forced into the mouth, rectum or vagina of the victim and there expanded by force of the screw to the maximum aperture of the segments. The inside of the cavity in question is irremediably mutilated, nearly always fatally so. The pointed prongs at the end of the segments serve better to rip into the throat, the intestines or the cervix. The oral pear was often inflicted on heretical preachers, but also on lay persons guilty of unorthodox tendencies; the rectal pear awaited passive male homosexuals, and the vaginal one women guilty of sexual union with Satan or his familiars. Knotting This form of torture was specific to women. It involved tying a stick into a woman’s hair and twisting it tighter and tighter. When the Inquisitor no longer had the strength to twist, he would hold the victim’s head or fasten it in a holding device until burly men could take over the chore. Not only would the hair be ripped out, but the scalp would often be torn open, exposing the skull. As expected, only women with thick or long hair were chosen for this torture. The Strappado: The strappado was one of the easiest and, therefore, one of the most common torture techniques. All one needed to set up a strappado was a sturdy rafter and a rope. The victim’s wrists were bound behind her/his back, and the rope would be tossed over the beam. Then, the victim was repeatedly dropped from a height, so that her/his arms and shoulders would dislocate. The Wheel: In France and Germany the wheel was a popular form of capital punishment, not least becasue it was pure agony for the victim. In concept it was similar to a crucifixion. The prisoner was tied to the side of the wheel lying on the scaffold, stretched across its spokes and hub. The victim's limbs shattered the limbs one by one with a heavy iron bar. Each arm and leg was broken in several places before the job was done. A skilled executioner would smash the bones of his victim without piercing the skin. The wheel was then propped upright so onlookers could appreciate the dying gasps of the victim. At first the severity of the injuries was thought to be sufficient to bring about death. Later the exectutioner ended the torture by one or two blows to the chest. The wheel could be refined, too, to include other torturous aspects. A suspended wheel might be turned over a fire or a bed of nails. In any event it meant unbearable suffering for the victim. |
