Representational image. News18

Preparations to hang Uttar Pradesh resident Shabnam, found guilty of murdering seven of her family members, have commenced. The execution will mark the first time a woman prisoner will be hanged till death in the history of independent India.

The woman from Amroha was found guilty of murdering seven of her family members with an axe, with the help of her lover in April 2008.

Meerut’s Pawan Jallad, who also carried out the execution of the men convicted of the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case, has inspected Uttar Pradesh’s only female hangout situated in Mathura, News18 reported. Rope has been ordered from Bihar’s Buxar. However, the date to carry out the death sentence remains to be decided.

The case was heard in Amroha court for over two years, following which District Judge SAA Hussaini ruled in 2010 that Shabnam and Salim should be hanged till death. On the day of judgment, the judge heard the statements of 29 witnesses. The 160-page judgement was passed after 649 questions were asked from the witnesses. While Shabnam is currently behind bars at Bareilly, her lover Salim is lodged in Agra Jail.

In 2010, the Allahabad High Court upheld the death sentence awarded to the duo by the Sessions court and the Supreme Court upheld Shabnam’s death sentence in January last year. Observing that the “finality” of death sentence is extremely important, the apex court said condemned prisoners should not be under the impression that the death penalty remains “open ended” and can be challenged all the time by them. The President had also rejected her mercy petition.

The first female hanging house was built in Mathura jail almost 150 years ago, but no convict has been hanged there since Independence. Though a woman from Lucknow was sentenced to death on 6 April, 1998, her death penalty was changed to life imprisonment after she gave birth to a child inside the jail.

With inputs from PTI