Mumbai: Byculla women’s jail finds itself back under scrutiny after 85 inmates were admitted to a hospital on Friday due to suspected food poisoning. This is not the first instance of the jail finding itself mired in controversy. In April this year, Indrani Mukerjea, an accused in the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case, was rushed to J. J.
Hospital after she complained of nausea. Medical evaluation later revealed that it was allegedly a case of drug overdose. Last year in June, a 38-year-old inmate of the same jail, Manjula Shetye, was allegedly murdered after which incidents of alleged rioting took place in the prison.
The pathetic condition of the women’s jail came to light following Shetye’s death after being allegedly beaten up by jail officials and staff as she had “failed” to account for two eggs and five loaves of bread, which were distributed by her to the inmates. Her death had sparked protests in the prison with over 200 prisoners, including Indrani, being booked for rioting. The police had registered a case of murder against the jail officials and arrested six of them.
The former Maharashtra Women’s Commission Sushiben Shah said, “The condition of the women’s prison is not up to mark, triggering all these food poisoning cases. They must have occurred as the sanitation of this jail is poor.”
She added, “Last year, a team of 20 MPs, all members of the Parliamentary standing committee on empowerment of women, found that jail staff thrash inmates at the slightest provocation and disallow meetings with family members.
