Manjula Shetye death case: Bombay High Court refuses to monitor probe in the case, disposes criminal PIL

Mumbai: In a breather to the six women accused in the Manjula Shetye case, the Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to monitor the probe in the case. The HC also disposed the criminal Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which sought monitoring of the probe.

A division bench of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Sandeep Shinde said, “We are satisfied with the probe in the case, so far. We think the probe is in correct direction.” “Needless to state, if the investigating agency thinks of conducting a further probe, then it is at liberty to move the competent court and seek its permission. We find no reason to monitor the probe,” the judges said.

The judges heard a PIL filed by Pune-based activist Pradeep Bhalekar, seeking monitoring of the investigations by the HC. The PIL also sought transferring of the probe to State- Crime Investigation Department (CID), since the petitioner contended the current probe team was not doing its work properly.

Also Read: Manjula Shetye case: Panel submits report to women’s commission over Mumbai jail conditions

Bhalekar had moved this PIL through his advocate Nitin Satpute, who time and again raised various contentions in the case. He said, “We cannot say anything in the case now since the HC has expressed its satisfaction over the probe. However, they have given us the liberty to move the court if required in future.”

Earlier, this matter was dealt by another bench of Justice Rajendra Savant and Justice Sadhana Jadhav. The bench had almost in every hearing slammed the probe team for its shoddy work. The bench had also taken the investigators to task and brought the guilty to book.

How an inmate was murdered in Byculla Jail

• The alleged incident happened on June 23 at 9 am, after 40-year-old Manjula Shetye (who was made warden of her barrack, owing to her good behaviour) complained over missing morning rations of two eggs and five pieces of bread.
• Manjula was called by the jail officer Manisha Pokharkar in private. According to a witness, she heard Manjula screaming in pain and when Manjula came back to the barrack in a while, she was visibly in pain.
• The witness added that, after some time, a group of jailors came back and assaulted Manjula once again, and she was stripped by 5 female constables. The witness further claimed that the two-constable held her legs apart while one constable inserted lathi in her private parts, after which Manjula was left bleeding in the barrack with no help.
• Manjula was taken to hospital only after she felt unconscious in the bathroom, and the resident doctor asked her to be transferred to JJ Hospital immediately.
• She was declared dead after being taken to JJ Hospital. According JJ Hospital’s post-mortem report, Manjula had contusions on all over the body, and her lungs were also damaged.