"I don't have any time left, Dad. My time is over... I don't know if I'll be able to make any call or not."
These were the last words of 33-year-old Shahzadi Khan, a resident of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, who was executed in Abu Dhabi on 15 February 2025, almost two years after she was accused of murder of a four-month-old infant.
The night before the execution, Shahzadi spoke to her family for the final time. The phone call lasted 10 minutes.
"Don’t hold anything in your heart. This is my last wish," she told her parents. On the other end of the phone, her sobbing mother asked her daughter for forgiveness. "We couldn’t do anything. Forgive us."
That was on 14 February. It wasn't until 3 March – nearly 17 days after she had been executed – that the family found out about their daughter's fate.
After he received no information about Shahzadi, her father Shabir Khan approached the Delhi High Court and filed a petition on 24 February. During the hearing on 3 March, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed the court that Shahzadi was hanged to death on 15 February – and her last rites will be performed in Abu Dhabi on 5 March.
"We were informed about the execution when we approached the court," Shabir Khan alleged to The Quint. "The Indian Embassy and the Indian government kept the information about her execution from us."
"Our daughter used to call us from the prison. She told us on 14 February that she won't be able to make phone calls any further. No one listened to us when our daughter was alive...who will listen to us after her death? My daughter has suffered a lot of injustice," he added.
From Banda to a Foreign Prison
Shahzadi moved to Abu Dhabi in December 2021. "My daughter used to work in an NGO in Agra. During the COVID-19 lockdown, there was no work. She met a man named Uzair through Facebook during that time and he promised her a lucrative job in the UAE," her father recounted to The Quint.
According to Shabir, Shahzadi was offered the job of a caretaker at Uzair's aunt Nazia and uncle Faiz's house in Abu Dhabi. Nazia works as a professor at Al Nahyan University in Abu Dhabi. Shabir says,
"When my daughter went there, Nazia was expecting. A few months later, she gave birth to a child. My daughter used to take care of the baby."
However, a few months later, things took a turn for Shahzadi. Shabir claims that the family blamed her for the baby's death which was allegedly a reaction to a vaccination.
"At the time of death, the baby’s parents did not go for a post-mortem. They even signed documents, stating that they won't take any further action. But I don’t know what happened after two months. They accused my daughter of murder — and forced her to confess to the crime in a video. They even pressured her to sign a confession written in Arabic at the police station," Shabir told The Quint.
Shahzadi was the youngest of three daughters of Shabir and Najra Begum. At the age of eight, she was scalded by boiling water, which burned her face, and some parts of her body.
Shabir's lawyer, Ali Mohammad Maj, told The Quint that the infant died in December 2022. Two months later, in February 2023, Shahzadi was accused of murder and sent to jail.
"The parents of the deceased infant gave a consent letter to take the body without a post-mortem, in which they stated that they would not claim anything in future related to the incident. However, they forcibly recorded a video of Shahzadi and, with their influence, framed her in a conspiracy."Ali Mohammad Maj
Utter Negligence by the Indian Embassy
Shahzadi was kept in the Al-Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi. She contacted her family from the jail in February 2023.
"Shahzadi used to make phone calls from the prison. She'd tell her mother that she didn’t get any roti to eat. Instead, she was fed chicken and rice daily," Shabir recounted.
"My daughter had been in prison for the last two and a half years. We received the first-ever phone call from the Indian Embassy on 3 March to inform us that she had been hanged — and we are supposed to be there for her last rites. But how can we reach there so quickly? We don’t have a passport or a visa," he added.
Shahzadi’s family had requested the Centre to bring her mortal remains back to India. However, an official from the MEA told The Quint, "Under the UAE law, in such cases, the mortal remains of the deceased are not allowed to be sent out of the country."
Lawyer added, "The Indian Embassy never informed the family about Shahzadi. When she went to jail, it was after 10 to 15 days that they called and informed us about the case. We made hundreds of calls to the place where Shahzadi was residing, but no one answered."
"There is utter negligence on the part of the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi. If they had informed us immediately after the incident, we would have filed a case against them (Nazia and Faiz). Shahzadi was staying in their house illegally. She was mistreated, tortured, and a video was made of her."Ali Mohammad Maj, Lawyer
Maj alleged that the lawyer provided by the embassy asked Shahzadi to confess to the charges against her. "She only appeared in one hearing and then never showed up. She didn’t even fight Shahzadi's case," he added.
"The lawyer assigned by the embassy was only going through the formalities," Shabir added.
Talking to The Quint, an MEA spokesperson said,
"Indian citizen Shahzadi was convicted of the murder of a child and sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates. (UAE) The UAE's highest court, the Court of Cassation, upheld the sentence. The embassy provided Shahzadi with all possible legal assistance, including sending a mercy petition and pardon request to the UAE government."
Shabir further added, “We hired a lawyer at our end — and that is when we were provided with all the necessary documents. The lawyer cited the doctor’s report and informed us that there were no injury marks on the infant’s throat and mouth. He also said that the baby showed signs of cardiac arrest. The [vaccination] injection triggered a reaction that led to the baby's death. The doctor also testified in court that the body was taken without a post-mortem."
Shabir's lawyer further said, "We have questioned the embassy multiple times through calls and emails, but we received no response. They only reply once every six months."
'I Won't be Back'
"You will fight the case for years, but I won’t be back."
In her last conversation with the family, Shahzadi had asked her parents to withdraw the case filed in India — and live peacefully.
"Take the case back that you've filed in India and live peacefully. Take the FIR back... don’t make enemies.I just need peace. You may fight this case for years but won't get me back. Stop all the court and legal proceedings,” she said.
She continued, "I am content with Allah's decision. Don’t make enemies because of me. I don't want to do anything. Just take the FIR back. I have had many accidents. Consider this as another accident. I have no complaints or grudges against anyone."
Last year, following an order from the Banda Chief Judicial Magistrate's (CJM) court, Banda police registered an FIR against Faiz, Nazia, Uzair, and Faiz’s mother Anjum Sahana Begum. The charges included human trafficking among others.
According to a report by The Indian Express, a police officer from Banda district stated that the investigating officer has filed a closure report in the case.
Shahzadi's case isn't an isolated one. Nimisha Priya, a 36-year-old Malayali nurse, has been languishing in a prison in Yemen's Sana'a since 2017 for allegedly murdering a Yemeni local.
(The Quint has reached out to the Indian Embassy, Abu Dhabi, UAE on the allegations raised by the father. The story will be updated as and when they respond.)
(With inputs from Manoj Kumar)