Shabnam’s son was born in Moradabad jail in December 2008
By Muslim Mirror Staff
New Delhi: Mohammad Taj, son of Shabnam Ali, who is facing death sentence for killing seven members of her family, has urged President Ram Nath Kovind to forgive her mother.
President uncle, please forgive my mother Shabnam,” a placard he is seen holding in a video says. The video went viral on social media after news arrived that preparations have begun to hang her, though there is no official death warrant yet.
Shabnam, now 38, had been convicted of killing seven of her family members — her mother, father, two brothers, sister-in-law, cousin and 10-month-old nephew — after they opposed her relationship with Saleem, also a resident of the Amroha village she is from. The two of them slit their throats after serving them sedative-spiked milk. Shabnam was pregnant at the time.
The boy was born in Moradabad jail in December 2008. When he turned six, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Amroha handed him over to his guardian, a resident of Bulandshahr district. Shabnam and Saleem, meanwhile, were convicted in 2010 and, then, sentenced to death. Shabnam challenged the Amroha sessions court verdict in the Allahabad high court, then the Supreme Court, then sought mercy from the President, and then went back to the SC, which rejected her review petition in January last year.
Sparing her would be justified only if the death penalty is abolished, not if it is there.