Indrani Mukerjea riot probe starts

Mumbai: A team of officials from the state child rights commission visited the Byculla women’s prison on Saturday to probe the allegation that undertrial Indrani Mukerjea, an inmate in the said prison in relation to the Sheena Bora murder case, had used children living in the jail with their mothers, as a human shield, while protesting against the atrocities of jail authorities and staff.

The inmates were protesting the death of an inmate Manju Shetye in the jail premises on June 23 after being beaten up by the jail staff. Mukerjea has been accused of inciting inmates as well as using children of other inmates as a human shield.

According to Pravin Ghuge, attached to the state child rights commission, he along with his team had interacted with the children and their mothers. They had also spoken to other inmates regarding the incident. The team has also further inspected the facilities being provided to children below six years of age. The commission would submit its findings about the incident, to the government within 15 days.

“There are around 17 children who are less than six years of age and are staying in the jail premises with their mothers. During our interaction, we managed to get a few details of the protest incident. We have also talked to a few other inmates,” said Ghuge, who had led the six-member team probe team and is also the chairperson of the commission.

The visit of the commission was prompted after the visit of an all women parliamentary committee consisting of 20 MPs from all over the country on Thursday.

The commission also took cognisance of reports that alleged that Mukerjea had not only incited inmates to protest against the jail staff but had also suggested that they should use children as human shields. The commission’s visit was to investigate the allegations as well as take stock of the situation and see whether the children living in jails are provided proper amenities and health facilities or not.  

“We also took note of the facilities being provided inside the jail for the well being of the innocent children as well as pregnant women. We checked whether the jail was adhering to the central and state government rules as well as orders of the Supreme Court and high court with regards to the welfare of the children of women inmates living with them. A detailed report of our findings pertaining to the allegations of children being used as human shields as well as facilities not only in Byculla jail but all jails across the state will be submitted to the Women and Child Welfare ministry,” said Ghuge.