The crime was committed in April 2008 when Shabnam was 25-year-old.
AYODHYA: A senior Ayodhya seer has appealed to President Ram Nath Kovind to pardon death row convict Shabnam, who would be the first woman in independent India to be hanged for a crime.
Talking to TOI, the chief priest of Tapaswi Chawni temple, Paramahans Das said, “A woman’s status in Hindu scriptures, Vedas and Puranas, is much higher than that of men. The execution of a woman will not augur well for society and may trigger calamity and bring bad luck. Her crime is unpardonable, but she must be forgiven as she’s a woman. As a Hindu dharam guru, I appeal to the President of India to accept Shabnam s mercy petition and save her from death. She has atoned for her sins in prison and her hanging will be the most unfortunate chapter in our history. Our Constitution gives an extraordinary power to the President and he should exercise that power to forgive.”
A senior official in the Uttar Pradesh public works department has begun the process of deducting a day’s salary from PWD employees as “voluntary” contribution towards building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, angering staff who said their permission had not been taken.
Rajpal Singh, engineer-in-chief of the development section of the PWD, has purportedly written to a bank at Hazrathganj in Lucknow seeking to open an account in the name of “PWD Ram Mandir Welfare”. The letter, dated January 9, 2021, mentions that a day’s pay would be deducted from the salaries of PWD employees and the amount would be deposited in this account.