Byculla inmate death: Bombay HC pulls up jail officials over delay in magisterial inquiry

The provisions of Criminal Procedure Code “mandate that within 24 hours of a custodial death, the same should be reported to the magistrate”, said the court. On June 23, Shetye was allegedly assaulted by jail officials and declared dead on arrival after she was taken to J J Hospital.

byculla, byculla inmate death, byculla death, bombay high court, bombay HC

Bombay High Court (File Photo)

Expressing displeasure over the investigations into the death of Manjula Shetye at Byculla jail, the Bombay High Court Monday pointed out that not only had the jail authorities delayed the process for initiating a magisterial inquiry beyond the 24-hour period, as mandated in custodial death cases, relevant papers related to the matter were also not provided to the magistrate later. The provisions of Criminal Procedure Code “mandate that within 24 hours of a custodial death, the same should be reported to the magistrate”, said the court.

On June 23, Shetye was allegedly assaulted by jail officials and declared dead on arrival after she was taken to J J Hospital. Hearing a public interest litigation filed by Pune resident Pradeep Bhalekar seeking transfer of the probe to an independent agency, a division bench of Justice R M Savant and Justice S S Jadhav Monday asked whether any inquiry had been conducted by a magistrate under Section 176 (1A) of the CrPC (into cause of death when any person dies while in the custody of police or when the case is of the nature referred). The court was then given a letter written by Byculla jail to the magistrate, dated July 6. “It is required to be noted that the incident took place on June 23. However, significantly, this letter to the magistrate purportedly has been addressed on July 6,” said Justice Savant.

The court said they were “not impressed with the contentions raised by the jail authorities” on why the letter was sent on July 6. “We have also been informed the magistrate addressed a letter seeking relevant documents from the investigating agency. There is no clear answer on why the documents were not furnished to the magistrate expeditiously also. The manner in which the investigation is being proceeded with presently does not augur well,” added Justice Savant. The magistrate was only provided with an FIR copy and that of the post-mortem.

Story continues below this ad

“There was no whisper of a magisterial inquiry into the matter during earlier hearings,” said Justice Jadhav, adding a magistrate could not start an inquiry on his or her own.

Additional public prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh told the court that a wireless message was sent to various authorities soon after the incident. “Sending a wireless message does not absolve you of your duty,” said Justice Jadhav. “Having regard to the fact that events after the death of the inmate certain provisions of CrPC were transcended, we direct the magistrate to continue with her inquiry and further direct the crime branch to provide relevant documents to her,” said the court.

The magistrate will be handed over the inquest punchnama and a copy of the videography of the post-mortem. The court further said non-compliance of the court’s order would be viewed “seriously attracting relevant action by the court”.

The High Court was, meanwhile, given a report that stated that the CCTV footage of that day had been taken into custody and transcribed. “The atmosphere in the cell has been mentioned. Prima facie, the complicity of the arrested accused police personnel is mentioned,” added the court.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
Byculla