Who Is Shabnam Ali: First Woman To Be Hanged Till Death After Independence

Who Is Shabnam Ali: First Woman To Be Hanged Till Death After Independence

The Mathura district jail has started preparations to hang a woman for the first time in independent India. Shabnam Ali, 38, was convicted of killing seven members of her family — her mother, father, two brothers, sister-in-law, cousin and 10-month-old nephew — by serving them milk laced with sedatives and then slitting their throats.Shabnam hails from Bawankheri, a village some 20km from Amroha in Moradabad division of Uttar Pradesh and is a double MA in English and Geography.



Before she murdered her family members pls, Ali worked as a school teacher who taught in the village school and was a favourite among her students.Shabnam’s uncle, Sattar Ali, describes her as a demure girl, "every bit the obedient daughter" who nobody thought was capable of murdering her family for her lover.On the intervening night of April 14 and 15, 2008, Shabnam drugged her family and slaughtered them. She was seven weeks pregnant with her lover Saleem's child.Shabnam's family members were against her relationship with Saleem. Both came from different socio-economic backgrounds and caste.

Her family, Saifi Muslims, were well-to-do landholders, while Saleem, a Pathan, was a class VI dropout, and worked as a daily wagerShabnam's family owned around 30 bigha of land. Her father was an Arts teacher in the local college.

“All of us were shocked. There was some tension in the family due to her relationship with that man, but it was impossible to imagine that it would end that way,” said her uncle Sattar.Shabnam and Saleem were sentenced to death in 2010 by the sessions court in Amroha in UP. Over the next 11 years, Shabnam went to the Allahabad high court, the President and twice appealed to the Supreme Court.

In January last year, her review petition was dismissed by the SC. However, she has not yet exhausted all judicial remedies.Though her lawyer told TOI that they have not been informed about a death warrant being issued, the Mathura district jail, the only one in the country where women can be hanged, has begun preparations.

“We have not received any death warrant but have started preparing … Last year in February, the executioner, Pawan Jallad, had inspected the hanging house," said Mathura senior jail superintendent Shailendra Maitrey on Wednesday.

The jail official said that there was a problem with the structure of the gallows and they are fixing it now. "We have also just ordered two hanging ropes from Bihar’s Buxar central jail,” said Maitrey.Built 150 years ago, the gallows in Mathura has never been used in independent India. The hanging house with creaking structures and covered in overgrowth would take a while to set in order should a death warrant be issued.

Shabnam continues to stay incarcerated in a Rampur Jail while Mathura jail begins preparation to hang her.

But legal experts have said all of this is not definitive. “Shabnam could still seek another judicial review of the petition in SC. She could also file a curative petition,” SC lawyer Sarthak Chaturvedi told TOI. “No one can be hanged until all legal remedies are exhausted," Chaturvedi said.

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