New Delhi: Lawyer AP Singh, who represented the convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case, said that Shabnam, who is likely to become the first woman in independent India to be executed, should be granted relief from the death penalty.
Describing the hanging of a woman for the first time in independent India as tragic, Singh said that the death penalty offers no solution as it does not reduce crime.
Work should be done to reform the convict. Instead of being made a house for reformation, prison should not be made a hanging house, Singh said.
Read: Amroha murders: No execution date yet for convict Shabnam
Singh further opined that the death penalty must only be reserved for perpetrators of terrorism.
"The death penalty has been abolished in more than 100 countries. It is against the principle of Mahatma Gandhi as it counts as violence," Singh said.
Read: Amroha death row convict files fresh mercy plea
Singh further said that there was a possibility that Shabnam could have undergone a change in her life due to her son. He urged the President and Governor to consider the second mercy petition of Shabnam.
It may be recalled that on April 15, 2008, Shabnam and her lover Saleem had wiped out the former's entire family in Amroha district in Uttar Pradesh. The duo was having an affair and wanted to get married. However, the woman's family was opposed to their marriage.
Read: India's first woman to face execution since independence
Shabnam made her family members drink milk laced with sedatives before killing them with an axe assisted by her lover.
