Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 3: A 33-year-old Indian woman, Shahzadi Khan, who had been on death row in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for allegedly killing a four-month-old baby, was executed on February 15, the Ministry of External Affairs informed the Delhi High Court on Monday.

Shahzadi, a native of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, had been working as a caregiver in Abu Dhabi when her employer’s infant son died on December 7, 2022, soon after a routine vaccination. She was arrested in February 2023, sentenced to death in July, and had been imprisoned in Al Wathba Central Jail since then.

Her execution, however, was formally communicated to the Indian Embassy only on February 28, leaving her family devastated. Her father, Shabbir Khan, had been pleading for information about her status, unaware that she had already been executed. Seeking urgent clarity, he approached the Delhi High Court, where Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma disclosed the grim news during a legal hearing. With no further legal options, the court termed the incident “sad and unfortunate” and disposed of the plea.

In December 2023, a video surfaced in which Shahzadi was seen confessing to the crime. However, her father alleged in his petition that the confession was coerced through torture. He also claimed that the child’s parents refused a postmortem and signed a waiver to halt further investigation. Despite these concerns, her appeal was rejected in September 2023, and the UAE court upheld her death sentence on February 28, 2024.

On February 14, Shahzadi made a final phone call to her father, hinting at her imminent execution. Desperate, Shabbir reached out to the External Affairs Ministry on February 20, seeking intervention. However, by the time an official response came, his daughter had already been executed.

Shahzadi’s cremation is scheduled for March 5 in Abu Dhabi.