Mumbai: A delegation from the Parliamentary Committee for Empowerment of Women on Thursday visited the Byculla Women’s Prison to get an overview of the conditions in the prison. They will also conduct inquiries into the alleged murder of inmate Manjula Shette, who died in the prison on June 23 this year.
Shette, a murder convict, is alleged to have been severely assaulted by six prison guards, who are now under arrest and being interrogated by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch. A separate inquiry has also been set up by the Prisons Department to probe for lapses in procedure on part of prison officials.
Sources said the panel of MPs, which included Vandana Chavan of the NCP and Raksha Khadse and Bijoya Chakraborty of the BJP, reached the prison around 11 am on Thursday.
The panel surveyed the prison and made several observations, after which they spoke to senior officers present, including Additional Director General B.K. Upadhyay, Special IG Rajvardhan Sinha and DIG Swati Sathe. Senior officials were quizzed on the number of complaints about alleged mistreatment and other issues by inmates and the steps taken to address these grievances, said sources.
The panel will soon be presenting a report of their observations to the Central government, suggesting measures that can be taken to avoid similar incidents in the future and generally improve the conditions in women's prisons.
While Ms. Chavan, Ms. Khase and Ms. Chakaborty could not be reached, Dr. Upadhyay declined to comment on the matter.
