Byculla Jail inmate death: Manjula Shetye was dead half an hour before being brought to JJ Hospital

Byculla jail inmate Manjula Shetye was dead at least 30 minutes before she was taken to JJ Hospital, Mumbai Mirror has reported. Shetye, the woman prisoner, died on 23 June and was taken to the hospital five hours after being beaten up in the jail. The distance between the jail and the hospital is roughly a kilometre. Shetye’s post-mortem examination has revealed that her death was caused due to fatal blows on her skull and other parts of the body, according to  NDTV. The report did, however,  rule out the allegation that a wooden stick had been inserted in her private parts. This confirmed the results of a magisterial inquest into her death which had ruled out any injury on her private parts. [caption id=“attachment_3757927” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Manjula Shetye. Puja Changoiwala[/caption] The post-mortem report further stated that Shetye had about 11 to 13 contusions all over her body. The dean of JJ hospital, TP Lahane, said the woman’s lungs were damaged, reported Hindustan Times. The Mumbai Mirror report quoted a member of the forensic team at JJ Hospital as saying, “What we found is, multiple contusions led to localised collection of blood, which is called peripheral pulling of blood in medical terminology." The victim may have died due to neurogenic shock, added the forensic doctor. Shetye’s death had enraged inmates of Byculla jail and sparked off a protest on Saturday, with some of them going to the prison terrace and some others making a bonfire of newspapers and documents inside the premises to vent out their anger. The Nagpada police had later booked nearly 200 inmates of the Byculla jail, including Indrani Mukerjea, lodged in the same prison, for rioting, unlawful assembly, assault on a public servant and other relevant sections of the IPC. Indrani has moved a Mumbai court alleging that she was beaten up by the jail officials after the convict’s death triggered a protest in the prison. Six jail staffers had been placed under suspension and police had registered a case under IPC section 302 (murder) against them. The staffers are jailer Manisha Pokharkar and guards Bindu Naikode, Waseema Shaikh, Sheetal Shegaokar, Surekha Gudve and Aarti Shingane. The Mumbai police crime branch has taken over the probe into Shetye’s death. The Times of India has reported that the six jail staffers were asked to mark attendance at the Arthur Road jail, but none has turned up since Wednesday. Shetye was in the last year of her 14-year sentence. She had been convicted of murdering her sister-in-law Vidya in 2014. There are various theories surrounding why she was killed with the prominent one being that she was thrashed because she complained about two eggs and four slices of bread. The Maharashtra State Women’s Commission (MSWC) will set up a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the death. Further it had  summoned Inspector-General of Prisons Swati Sathe who spent an hour at the MSWC office and gave them a detailed report. With inputs from agencies