Death penalty for Muskan Rastogi faces historic legal hurdles

A trial court has sentenced Muskan Rastogi to death for the Meerut blue drum murder, a rare ruling for a female convict in India. Since 1947, only one woman, Rattan Bai Jain in 1955, has been officially executed, as superior courts frequently commute female death sentences to life imprisonment.

Legal precedents, such as the Gavit sisters' case, illustrate how executive delays and appellate reviews often prevent the execution of female convicts. While courts apply the 'rarest of rare' doctrine for heinous crimes, they typically consider mitigating factors, making the actual implementation of Rastogi’s capital punishment statistically unlikely.

Editor's note: The brief provides a clear legal context for the sentencing, though it repeats the 'Meerut' location which is not explicitly confirmed in the source text.