The Mathura District Jail in western Uttar Pradesh is bracing for the possibility that Shabnam, a woman convicted of murdering her family in 2008, may be ordered to be hanged soon, a senior jail official said, Akhilesh Kumar. If jail officials carry out the death sentence as planned, Shabnam could be the first woman to be hanged after Independence.
Preparations are underway at the Mathura district jail for Shabnam’s likely hanging, said Akhilesh Kumar, deputy inspector general of Agra (jail).
Shabnam and her lover Salim were sentenced to death for sedating seven members of their family and slitting their throats on the night of April 14, 2008. Among the dead was a 10-month-old boy. He was strangled.
The case
Shabnam’s family was against his relationship with Salim due to the difference in their social and economic status. Shabnam was a school teacher, Salim dropped out of class 6.
Shabnam, then 24, and Salim were arrested just days after the killings. The couple was sentenced to death by the trial court in 2010; the death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2015. His plea for clemency was also rejected by Rashtrapati Bhavan. In January 2020, the Supreme Court also rejected his requests for review, underlining that Saleem had “meticulously executed the murder after Shabnam administered sleeping pills in tea.”
“The mischief was with the desire to see that no legal heir except Shabnam remain alive. They wanted to seize the property of Shabnam’s parents who were against their marriage ”, ruled a bank made up of the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Judges S Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna.
DIG Akhilesh Kumar did not indicate a timetable for the execution in Mathura jail, but said it could be Shabnam from the Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh.
“The hanging in Mathura jail is for hanging convicted women, but they were in poor condition, as no woman has been hanged in free India. Therefore, it was considered opportune to renew it and the maintenance works are underway ”, said the officer.
Death penalty
Independent India has sent more than 750 men to the gallows; only 8 of them over the past two decades, according to data compiled by the research organization Project 39A of the National Law University, Delhi.
Archive: An investigation into capital punishment in India
Figures compiled by the group indicate that there were almost 404 on death row as of December 31, 2020. A 2016 survey indicated that there were only 12 women on death row.
Preparations in Mathura Prison
Pawan Kumar, the executioner better known as Pawan Jallad, said that he had visited Mathura jail about a year ago and pointed out the extensive repairs that the gallows needed.
“The wooden platform (takht) was not in good condition. There were other shortcomings, which I pointed out to the Mathura prison authorities, who placed an order for new rope from Buxar prison in Bihar, ”he said.
People familiar with the development said that two ropes, each 24 feet long, had been ordered for the rope.
Shailendra Maitrey, chief superintendent of the district jail, confirmed that an order was placed for the rope, but repeatedly called the preparations at the jail “routine maintenance.”
“Mathura jail has arrangements to hang convicted women, but the place required maintenance. Therefore, the necessary measures are being taken and the rope will be brought from Buxar prison in Bihar, ”Maitrey said.
“The maintenance of the cell to hang inmates is a routine exercise. I have not received any communication that Shabnam or any other convicted woman is going to be hanged here in Mathura, ”he said.
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