While scrolling through YouTube videos on a sleepless night, a specific video caught my attention. A young boy who appeared very innocent and naïve was requesting President Uncle to accept his mother’s mercy plea. My jaw dropped, and a tumultuous sigh came out!!! The interviewer’s insensibility made me angry and frustrated!!! I jumped out of bed to find out more information about that particular video.
Story of Raj
Let’s call the boy in that video by the name Raj. Though his name was openly displayed in that particular video and by some other videos, I want to change his original name for not disclosing his identity as per my conscience. Raj is a 12-year-old boy and lives with his foster parents. His request was to the Indian President, Mr Ram Nath Kovind, to accept the Mercy Petition of his mother Shabnam and pardon her.
This news gained national attention recently, as Shabnam will be the first woman convict in India to be hanged till death, after the independence in 1947, if executed. The Mathura Jail is getting ready to do the needful if and when the death warrant is issued.
The questions here are:
# How Raj is going to take it if his mom is going to die by hanging?
# Did the justice system fail Raj by delayed justice and conviction?
Who is Raj’s mother?
Before talking about Raj, we need to know about his mother Shabnam Ali. She was the only daughter of a family with a good educational and economic background. She worked as a ‘Shiksha Mitra’ (government teacher) in a primary school in Bawankhede village in the Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh. She was a bright student with double Masters Degrees in English and Geography. She had two brothers, out of which one was an engineer and happily married with an infant son. The younger brother was a 22-year-old B.Tech student. Her father was a lecturer and owned mango orchids. Shabnam’s mom was a loving homemaker.
The awful red night
On the midnight of 14thand the start of 15th April 2008, the neighbours rushed to Shabnam’s house after hearing her shouting and wailing. The scene was eerie as there laid the dead bodies of Shabnam’s father Shaukat Ali (55yrs), mother Hashmi (50), both the brothers, Anees (35), Rashid( 22), sister – in – law Anjum (25), a young cousin Rabiya(14) and ten-month-old nephew Arsh.
Shabnam, who was 25 years old at that time, was inconsolable. She narrated the story in such a way that not only the village but also the whole nation felt her pain and sorrow of losing the entire family. There were no eyewitnesses to the crime and no forced entry. Shabnam claimed that some unknown assailants had entered through terrace walls and killed all brutally.
False claims!
At first, Police were clueless as the door was locked from inside. There were no signs or marks on the walls or on the terrace of forced entry of any sort. All the circumstantial pieces of evidence were pointing suspicion towards Shabnam, the only survivor. On searching the crime scene thoroughly, the police found a sim card in the tea leaves bottle. Shabnam used that sim card to talk to her lover Saleem, and it was active before and after the crimes. The post mortem reports cleared the confusions as all the six victims except little Arsh were sedated at the time of the murders.
Why did she do it?
Shabnam fell in love with a high school dropout, Saleem, who worked at a Saw Mill near her home. Like many other Indian Parents, her parents too objected to their daughter’s love affair because of the huge differences in community, class, educational status, economical background, and so on. According to the family, Saleem was not a suitable boy for her, and his alliance would bring societal shame for them.
Saleem wanted to elope with Shabnam, but she was not ready to leave the comfortable lifestyle behind. She not only wanted to marry and settle down with Saleem but also wanted to enjoy the money and property of her family. Together they made the plan to eradicate the whole family so that Shabnam could become the sole owner of the house and properties. Shabnam sedated the family and then opened the door for Saleem to come and chop their heads off with an axe. Shabnam Allegedly held their heads by hairs while Saleem was busy cutting their necks. Her nephew, 10-month-old Arsh was later throttled by Shabnam.
It didn’t take much time for Shabnam and Saleem to turn against each other during the trials. They accused one another of committing the horrific crime.
The court found this parricide as a rarest of a rare case and gave the verdict of death by hanging for both Shabnam and Saleem.
Let’s go back to the hero of our story Raj
Where was Raj in all these crimes of his biological parents?? Shabnam was seven weeks pregnant with Saleem’s child at the time of the heinous murders. She gave birth to little Raj at the jail, and he spent his precious early childhood days inside the walls of a prison. The documentary ‘Born Behind Bars’ directed by Malati Rao shed light on the poor and pitiable conditions of the children who spent six years of their life in jail because of their pregnant mothers’ crimes.
Raj was adopted later by a junior of Shabnam as the children are allowed inside the jail with their mothers only until they are six. One can only imagine what early and middle childhood Raj would have spent!!! As a pre-teen, does he deserve this anxiety and stress of going through the interviews where he was openly asked about his mother and her death sentence!!! I wonder whether Raj is aware of Shabnam and Saleem’s egregious acts and callousness!!!
Mercy? To whom?
I am not in favour of capital punishment but could not tell Shabnam deserves anything less. Should the President show mercy to Raj’s mum or not, is not what worries me. My only concern is about Raj’s psychological and emotional well being. Doesn’t the boy Raj deserve the mercy? Mercy from the authorities; mercy from society; mercy from the Media; to protect his identity, protect him from prejudices, and protect him from discriminations?
Shouldn’t the media stop going behind such children and their foster families?
Shouldn’t there be a legal system for protecting the identities of such children like Raj?
I urge all of you to be sensible enough to accept Raj’s individuality and existence. We as responsible citizens and accurate thinkers, cannot exonerate from saving children like Raj.
Let us know what’s your take on this?!
Written by Habeeba Waseem. Content Developer and Writer @mindsonfleek