Shabnam will be first woman to be hanged
She had axed to death seven of her family members, in collusion with her lover Salim
She will be the first woman convict in independent India to face the gallows. The Mathura jail administration has started preparations for hanging Shabnam, who had axed to death seven of her family members, along with her lover Salim, on April 14/15 night in 2008.
Both were awarded death sentences by the District and Sessions Court on July 14, 2010. Shabnam and Salim had challenged the lower court’s verdict in the Supreme Court but did not get any reprieve. Her death sentence was upheld by the apex court also.
Later, both had sent a mercy petition to the President but it was rejected, too. After ten years of the pronouncement of death sentence, all doors for review and mercy are shut. The Mathura Jail administration is merely waiting for a fresh death warrant order to hang Shabnam and Salim to death. Shabnam is currently lodged in Bareilly jail while Salim is in Agra jail.
Incidentally, Mathura jail is the only prison in the country with facilities for hanging of female prisoners. It was established by Britishers in 1870 with special provisions of a hanging house for women prisoners. A senior jail officer claimed that they have made all arrangements for her hanging. “We have placed an order for the rope and are waiting for a fresh death warrant to execute her,” he said. The gruesome murders of seven members are still fresh in the minds of people in Amroha. On April 14/15 2008 night, Shabnam, along with boyfriend Salim, had axed to death her father Shaukat, mother Hashmi, brothers Anees and Rashid, sister Rabia and sister in law Anjum. She did not spare even her nephew Arsh whom she strangled to death. Both committed these murders as the family was against their love affair. They were arrested by the Amroha Police on murder charges. The trial went on for more than two and a half years. The court held both of them guilty of murder of seven of her family members and awarded the death sentence on July 15 2010.