SIT to probe Mumbai jail inmate’s death

Mumbai, June 29 (IANS) The Maharashtra State Women's Commission (MSWC) will set up a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the death of a life-term woman convict in the Byculla Jail on June 23, an official said on Thursday.

The SIT would comprise a retired high court judge, a retired IPS officer and a representative of a women's NGO as members, said MSWC Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar.

In a related development, the State Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognizance of the matter and ordered police and Byculla Jail Superintendent to submit a report on the incident in which six jail staffers have already been suspended.

"We shall constitute a three-member SIT within a couple of days. It will visit the jail and speak to the inmates who were beaten during the rioting on Saturday (June 24). It will record the statements of all concerned, including Indrani Mukerjea," Rahatkar told IANS.

Earlier, Deputy IGP (Prisons) Swati Sathe met the MSWC and submitted a report on the incident and the action taken by jail authorities after the rioting last weekend.

"She has informed us that police have lodged offences of murder and related charges against the six suspended women jail staffers," Rahatkar told IANS.

Besides, she said a magistrate report had said that no extra injuries had been found on the victim's body, including her private parts, as alleged by some eyewitnesses.

"However, before we can conclude anything, we have asked the jail authorities to submit the detailed autopsy report of the victim to help us investigate the matter further," Rahatkar said after a visit to the jail this evening.

Assuring that she had taken serious cognizance of the matter, Rahatkar said on Friday, a notice board would be erected asking the women inmates of the jail to report any problems they encounter by writing directly to the MSWC.

"Of course, any such communication would pass through the prison authorities, but we are confident it will work in due course," she added.

Indrani Mukerjea, who submitted her statement on the incident before the Special CBI Court on Wednesday, on Thursday lodged a complaint with the Nagpada Police Station as directed by the court.

Following the death of a warden, Manjula Shetye on Friday night, the next morning angry prisoners resorted to a massive protest. A few even climbed the terrace of the prison to draw the attention of passersby, some burnt things inside the jail.

Later, police lodged a complaint of rioting, attacking public servants, unlawful assembly and other charges against some 200 inmates, including Mukerjea.

The prison officials have accused Mukerjea of reportedly instigating the inmates by asking them to launch a hunger strike and use their children as "human shields" when the jail staff tried to stop their agitation.

Shetye was a jail warden serving the last few months of her 14-year jail term for murdering her sister-in-law in 1996. She had complained about some missing ration from the food stock on Friday.

She was allegedly summoned by a woman jailor and beaten up brutally by six women jail staffers, according to witness statements recorded by police.

Shetye was rushed to the Sir J.J. Hospital nearby but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Shortly after the incident and the outcry, Additional Director-General of Prisons B.K. Upadhyay ordered a probe and suspended six jail staffers against whom there were allegations of misbehaviour.

Indrani Mukerjea is currently undergoing trial for the killing of her daughter, Sheena Bora, in April 2012, along with her husband and former media tycoon Peter Mukerjea, and her another former husband Sanjeev Khanna.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)