In independent India, for the first time, a woman on death row will be executed at the country's lone female execution room in Mathura. Remember Shabnam who who had axed to death seven of her family members? She is one of the two convicts in the sensational Amroha murder case who will be executed here but the execution date is yet to be finalised.
Who is Shabhnam?
Shabnam who hails from Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, was having an affair with Salim and wanted to get married but the family of the women were against it. On April 15, 2008, Shabnam's entire family was wiped out and the woman initially pretended that her house in Amroha district of UP was attacked by unidentified assailants.
But during investigation it was known that Shabhnam and Salim had made a plan to kill her family members. She made her family members drink milk laced with sedatives before hacking them to death and she didn't even spare her small nephew.
People in the small village of Bawankhedi, which is located adjacent to the Hasanpur town of Amroha, still remember the gruesome incident which took place on the intervening night of April 14-15, 2008.
Shabnam is currently behind bars at Bareilly, while Salim is lodged in Agra Jail. Both accused were awarded death sentences by the District and Sessions Court on July 14, 2010. The trial went on in Amroha court for more than two and half years.
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. They went on to file a mercy petition to the President but it was rejected too. After ten years of their death sentence, all doors for review and mercy were shut on her and Salim.
Female hanging house of Mathura Jail
To be hanged in female hanging house of Mathura Jail, it was built 150 years ago but no woman has been hanged here since Independence. The Senior Jail Superintendent, however, added that jail administration has started the preparation for the hanging and order for rope has been placed.
Meanwhile, Merut-based hangman Pawan Jallad is ready to execute the hanging of Shabnam and Salim in Mathura jail. Pawan had inspected Mathura Jail's woman hanging house about six months ago and found it in a dilapidated state.
Shabnam and Salim will be hanged as soon as the death warrant is issued.
