Desperate Plea: Father Fights for Daughter Facing UAE Death Sentence

Shahzadi Khan, a woman from Uttar Pradesh, faces a death sentence in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Her father has urgently petitioned the Delhi High Court asking the Ministry of External Affairs to ascertain her legal status and well-being amid allegations of coerced confession and inadequate legal representation.

Desperate to save his daughter from an impending execution, Shabbir Khan has approached the Delhi High Court, urging them to direct the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to ascertain the current legal status of his daughter, Shahzadi Khan. The 33-year-old woman, hailing from Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, is facing a grim fate in Abu Dhabi, where she is imprisoned and sentenced to death for allegedly causing the death of a child under her care.

In a detailed plea submitted through advocate Ali Md Maaz, Shabbir Khan detailed the unfortunate series of events that led to this dire circumstance. His daughter traveled to Abu Dhabi in December 2021 on a work visa. By August 2022, she was employed as a caregiver for her employer's newborn son. Tragedy struck on December 7, 2022, when the infant died shortly after receiving routine vaccinations. Despite the hospital's advice to conduct a postmortem, the parents of the infant opted to forgo further investigations.

The situation escalated in February 2023 when a video surfaced allegedly showing Shahzadi confessing to the homicide, a confession her family asserts was forced through torturous coercion by her employer. After being handed over to the police and subsequently sentenced to death, Shahzadi's legal representation reportedly faltered, with claims of pressure to confess from Indian Embassy legal counsel. Despite several appeals and mercy petitions, the family's pleas have yet to receive a response, prompting Shabbir's urgent request for intervention from the Indian authorities.

(With inputs from agencies.)