HC wants shelter inmates’ statements

The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted the application filed by the state government seeking the statements of the Mankhurd shelter inmates, which were recorded before a magistrate to probe rape allegations. A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Anoop V. Mohta was hearing a suo-moto public interest litigation based on a newspaper article, alleging that several women of the Mankhurd shelter home were sexually assaulted. The court had appointed magistrate Swati Chouhan to investigate the matter and submit recommendations for the improvement of the shelter home. The court had also directed the welfare department to appoint a psychiatrist for the shelter. The newspaper article disclosed the pathetic living conditions of the women in the shelter. The city police had filed a plea before the high court after the magistrate of the Mazgaon court had rejected the police’s plea seeking the statements. The investigators had stated that they had found concrete evidence so far and would require the statements of the inmates to identify the culprits and arrest them. In the meantime, the superintendent of the shelter informed the court about the current status of the Navjeevan Mahila Vastigruha of Mank-hurd. In a previous hearing, the court had questioned the state as to what step it had taken so far to implement the recommendations made by Ms Chouhan. Government pleader, D.A. Nalvade informed the court that following Ms Chouhan’s recommendation, a proposal has been cleared to set up more shelter homes in the city. S Chouhan’s report had pointed out that the shelter home currently has housed more women than it could take.