India may witness hanging of first woman since Independence in Uttar Pradesh jail

She hacked all the seven members of her family to death

Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district jail may witness the hanging of the first woman in India after Independence.

According to the sources, Shabnam, who with her lover Salim had hacked to death seven members of her family in the state's Amroha district on April 14, 2008, maybe hanged in the Mathura district jail.

However, the date of the hanging is yet to be decided as her death warrant had not been issued.

Sources said that Pawan Jallad, who had hanged the killers of Nirbhaya, had visited the Mathura jail twice in the past few months.

An order has been placed to procure the rope for this purpose, as per sources.

Read: Finality of death sentence extremely important, says the Supreme Court

The gallows in the Mathura district jail were constructed about 150 years back but so far no one had been hanged there. It is the only gallows in the state for the women.

Sources said that the jail authorities had started the preparations for the hanging after Shabnam's mercy petition was rejected by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee.

Shabnam, a resident of Bawankheri village in Amroha, had an affair with one Salim, also a resident of the same village. Shabnam's family, however, was against their relationship.

On April 14, 2008, Shabnam managed to mix sedatives in the drinks of her parents, two brothers, sister-in-law, cousin and her ten-month-old nephew.

She then called her lover to her house and both of them hacked all the seven members of the family to death.

The lovers were sentenced to death by the district court. The high court and the Supreme Court also upheld the district court's judgment.