'Blue drum' murder case accused, newborn daughter shifted to barrack in Meerut jail
Meerut (UP), Nov 27 (PTI): Muskan, jailed in connection with the gruesome murder of her husband and cementing his body inside a blue drum, has been shifted to Barrack 12A of Meerut jail along with her newborn daughter, officials said on Thursday.
She gave birth to a girl child at Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College on November 24 and was discharged on Wednesday afternoon.
Jail Superintendent Viresh Raj Sharma told PTI that both Muskan and the child are healthy, and the newborn will receive vaccinations in the jail premises.
He said the jail administration has not initiated a DNA test as no party has given a written request so far.
Family members of her slain husband Saurabh Rajput had earlier told media that they want a DNA test done to confirm the newborn's paternity.
Muskan and her daughter has been placed in Barrack 12A, which houses 21 female prisoners and three young children apart from them.
Jail sources said that upon her arrival in the barrack, other female inmates congratulated Muskan on the birth of her daughter.
Meanwhile, no relative either of Muskan or her late husband visited the jail to see the newborn. Her parents Pramod Rastogi and Kavita continue to care for her elder daughter Pihu.
Senior Superintendent Dr Sharma said doctors in the jail will regularly monitor the health of both the mother and the child.
Muskan is being provided nutritious meals. She will not be assigned any jail work for the time being; light duties may be assigned after a month. Facilities such as a creche are available for children, and the baby will also be registered with the jail's anganwadi. All necessary items will be provided for the mother and the child according to jail guidelines, he said.
Muskan and her boyfriend Sahil Shukla were arrested for murdering her husband Saurabh Rajput on March 4 at his home in Meerut's Indiranagar.
According to the FIR, the couple allegedly dismembered Saurabh's body, placed it in a blue drum filled with cement, and then fled to Himachal Pradesh. Muskan later informed her family about the incident, leading to police registering a case.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
