The father of Shahzadi Khan, a woman from Uttar Pradesh facing a death sentence in the UAE, has approached the Delhi High Court seeking intervention from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to determine her current legal status and well-being.
Shahzadi Khan, a 33-year-old from Banda district, is currently imprisoned in Abu Dhabi’s Al Wathba jail after being sentenced to death for the alleged murder of a child under her care.
A plea filed by advocate Ali Md Maaz on behalf of her father, Shabbir Khan, states that Shahzadi traveled to Abu Dhabi in December 2021 for employment. In August 2022, she was hired as a caregiver for an infant. On December 7, 2022, the baby passed away on the same day he received routine vaccinations.
The plea claims that the infant’s parents declined a postmortem and signed a consent letter waiving further investigation. However, in February 2023, a video allegedly showing Shahzadi confessing to the crime surfaced. She later claimed that the confession was extracted under duress and abuse by her employer and their family.
On February 10, 2023, Abu Dhabi police arrested her, and on July 31, 2023, she was sentenced to death. Her appeal in September 2023 was dismissed, and the death penalty was upheld on February 28, 2024.
Her father alleged that while she received legal counsel through the Indian Embassy, she was pressured into confessing and denied proper legal representation. Following the rejection of her appeal, he sought clemency through the Indian Embassy but received a response concerning an unrelated case.
A new mercy petition was filed in May 2024, followed by another through the Indian Embassy in July 2024, but no response was received. On February 14, 2025, Shahzadi informed her father via a call from prison that her execution might be imminent. Concerned, he formally approached the MEA on February 20, 2025, requesting an inquiry but has not received any update.