Mumbai: A sessions court on Friday rejected the bail application filed by a policewoman arrested in connection with custodial death of Byculla jail inmate Manjula Shetye.
Special women’s court judge S.V. Patil on Friday rejected the bail application filed by Shital Shegaonkar. This is the second time Shegaonkar’s bail plea has been rejected.
Earlier, Shegaonkar had sought bail along with three other accused on the grounds that Shetye died a natural death, but the court refused to accept this contention.
Public prosecutor Vidya Kasle had contended that what applicants were terming post-mortem lividity was the result of assault and the autopsy report has clearly mentioned that there were more than 14 injuries on Shetye’s body that were collective and some injuries were individually sufficient to cause her death. This was enough to prove it was not a natural death.
She had also claimed that the deceased was in the custody of the accused and it was their duty to protect her but instead they had allegedly beaten her up so brutally that she died and hence it is not a case where bail should be granted. Shetye was allegedly beaten to death on June 23, and a case of accidental death was initially registered but later — on the complaint of a jail inmate — an FIR was lodged against the jail staff, and six women jail authorities were arrested.
