Rampur: After the President of India rejected the mercy petition of Shabnam of Uttar Pradesh convicted for killing seven members of her family in 2008, she becomes the first woman to face execution in Independent India.
She is one of the two convicts in the sensational Amroha murder case and is all set to be hanged in Mathura jail. Shabnam is presently lodged in Rampur district jail.
The case diary
Shabnam fell in love with a man named Salim. The duo had an affair and wanted to get married. But Shabnam's family was against her relationship and their objection culminated in the killings.
According to reports, Shabnam and Salim conspired to kill her family members. On April 14, 2008, they brutally murdered seven of her family including her father, mother and a 10-month old nephew.
The pair first served the entire family food laced with sedatives before they were killed, reports said.
Soon after the matter came to light, both Shabnam and Salim were arrested by the district police.
In this case, the cross-examination lasted in the court for about 100 days over 27 months. On the day of judgment, the court heard the statements of as many as 29 witnesses.
649 questions and verdict of 160 pages
The 160-page order was passed after all witnesses were asked to answer 649 questions related to the case. Later, Salim admitted to his role in the killings and led the police to the weapons used in the crime.
The District and Sessions Court sentenced them to death on July 14, 2010. In 2010, the duo challenged the Sessions court's verdict in the Allahabad High Court, which upheld the death sentence.
Later, they approached the Supreme Court but the top court also upheld the death sentence in 2015. Since all legal options had been exhausted, Shabnam then filed a mercy plea before the then President Pranab Mukherjee which was rejected. They also filed a review plea in the Supreme Court.
Mathura jail
Mathura Jail is the only prison in the country that has a female execution room.
She came to Mathura jail in 2019 and her behaviour with other prisoners was good. She will be the first female prisoner to be hanged after India's Independence, Verma added. Speaking to ETV Bharat, jailor Rakesh Kumar Verma said that Mathura jail administration has already ordered the rope used for hanging death row convicts.
Capital punishment to womem in India
No female convict has been hanged there since Independence and India's only female execution room was built in Mathura jail nearly 150 years ago during the British rule in 1870.
The only mention of this hanging room in India can be found in the UP Jail Manual, 1956, which lays out elaborate rules for the execution of women convicts on death row.
Family expresses happiness
Shabnam's uncle Sattar Ali said "We were not at home when the carnage took place. When we went there at around 2 am, there was blood all around and the bodies were cut up. The crime was unpardonable. she should be hanged as she had brutally murdered seven members of her own family."
Executioner inspects hanging house
As per sources, once the execution date is fixed, execution will be carried out by a hangman named Pawan, who is also known as Pawan Jallad.
Pawan is a professional executioner who carried out the execution of the convicts in the Nirbhaya case. Like his father and the previous three generations, Pawan knows the details of carrying out an execution.
"She killed her family along with her lover. It is a heinous crime, so they should be hanged. I will do the trial, check the rope, check the board whether it's fully prepared," Pawan said.
Shabnam's son urges President
Meanwhile, Shabnam's 12-year-old son Taz has made an emotional appeal to President Ram Nath Kovind urging him to forgive his mother's heinous crime and revoke her death sentence.
The appeal by Shabnam’s son has come at a time when the death warrant for her execution is about to be signed anytime.
Also Read: 19-yr-old woman killed for dowry in Uttar Pradesh's Etah
