Amroha’s Shabnam, the first woman likely to hanged after Independence

  • Shabnam is likely to be the first woman in independent India to be hanged for a crime. 
  • Only one jail in India –– the one in Mathura –– has the provisions for hanging a woman convict. 

THE CASE

  • Shabnam lived in western Uttar Pradesh and her family was opposed to her relationship with Saleem, a Class VI dropout.
  • She along with her lover Saleem was convicted of killing seven members of her family in 2008.
  • In 2010, an Amroha sessions court sentenced them to death, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court in 2013 and the Supreme Court in May 2015. 
  • However, within 10 days, the Apex Court stayed the death warrants.
  • In September 2015, then-Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik rejected Shabnam’s plea for mercy, which she had sought on the ground of her responsibilities towards her son, Mohammad Taj. 
  • In August 2016, then President Pranab Mukherjee rejected her mercy petition.
  • In January 2020, a Supreme Court bench headed by CJI SA Bobde upheld the death sentence.


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