KANPUR: The phone rang in a small home in Goyera Mughli village of Banda in UP’s Bundelkhand. It was February 15. A voice – familiar yet carrying the weight of impending finality – broke the silence. “This is my last call,” said Shahzadi Khan, 33.
A hush fell over her family. Her brother Shamsher gripped the phone tighter. “They asked me about my final wish,” she said, further adding, “I asked to speak to ammi and abbu.”
Her mother gasped in the background, reaching for a daughter who was facing execution after being convicted of murdering a four-month-old child thousands of miles away in Abu Dhabi – too far to hold, too close to lose. And then, silence. Shahzadi was gone.
“We did not hear from her afterward,” Shamsher said Monday. They searched. They begged for news, combing through bureaucratic barriers, unanswered pleas. “We filed a writ petition in Delhi high court, where we were informed Monday about her execution,” the brother said.
Executed on February 15 – the same day she made her last call. No one knew how. No one knew where her remains lay. Only that it was over. “Her last rites will be held on March 5,” additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma said in court.
She had left India in search of healing. “Shahzadi had childhood burn scars on her face,” said her brother. The scars had always made her self-conscious. “She wanted to have them removed,” Shamsher said. When a man named Uzair from Agra reached out on social media, promising help – a chance for plastic surgery in UAE – she dared to dream.
She reached Abu Dhabi in Dec 2021 on a legal visa. Upon arrival, Uzair sent her to the home of his relative Faiz, where she was kept as a domestic worker. No surgery, no transformation – only labour and confinement in an unfamiliar world.
In Aug 2022, Faiz’s wife gave birth to a son and Shahzadi was assigned as the baby’s caregiver. Four months later, on Dec 7, the child received routine vaccinations. By nightfall, he was gone.
Fazi’s grief turned to fury. Shahzadi was accused of killing the infant. She was handed over to Abu Dhabi police on Feb 10, 2023, and was sentenced to death on July 31. She remained in Al Wathba prison until her execution.
Her father Shabbir Khan fought relentlessly, sending pleas to anyone who would listen – letters to the President, appeals to the PM. But the clock ran faster than justice. Shamsher demanded his sister’s body for a dignified burial at their ancestral home and called for an independent probe, considering their FIR against Uzair for human trafficking.
“Uzair deceived my sister with false promises, taking Rs 3 lakh in cash and jewellery from her while also collecting the same amount from his UAE relative to provide them with a maid,” he said. “She was a victim, not a criminal. She was innocent,” Shamsher said. “She only wanted to fix her scars.” But what of the deeper scars – the ones left behind?