The inmates of Byculla jail went on a protest inside the barracks after the mysterious death of a 45-year-old female convict who was allegedly assaulted inside the prison. The woman was brought dead to JJ Hospital on Friday at around 7.30pm. Her family members allege that a lady police officer assaulted the woman to death inside the jail.
Manjula Shetye was convicted by the Bombay High Court in 2003 on charges of murdering her sister-in-law and was first lodged at Yerwada jail. She was shifted to Byculla prison a month back. Shetye allegedly was assaulted inside the prison and was rushed to JJ hospital for treatment but was declared dead before admission.
Since then, there has been unrest inside the prison as inmates allegedly burnt clothes and sat on a flash protest. On Saturday morning, female prisoners from barrack number two climbed up the prison to draw the attention of passersby. Additional police force was deployed to control the situation.
Sanjay Baswat, Senior Inspector, Nagpada Police Station, said, "We have registered a case of accidental death and will make a panchnama to proceed with the post mortem at JJ Hospital."
"We have been posted outside the jail to prevent the occurrence of any untoward incident," said Baswat.
Anand Shetye, a resident of Kalyan and brother of the deceased, said, "We suspect that she was killed and in order to hide the incident, a post-mortem was not conducted immediately.All activities inside the jail were stopped as prisoners were agitating inside the barracks. My sister never misbehaved in the jail. We want a transparent inquiry into the incident and the persons responsible should be punished."
"Six jail staff, one officer, and five jail guards have been suspended for dereliction of duty inside the prison," BK Upadhyay, Addn DG, Prisons, said.
Mysterious death
Family members of the victim suspect she was assaulted to death and questions delay in post-mortem.
Since the death, there has been unrest inside the prison as inmates allegedly burnt clothes and sat on a flash protest.
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