Journalism of Courage
Hearing the custodial death case of Byculla jail inmate Manjula Shetye, a sessions court Wednesday directed the police to provide CCTV footage of June 23-24, from the jail, to the accused jail staffers. Shetye, who was serving a life imprisonment at Byculla jail, was allegedly assaulted by six staffers of the jail on June 23 leading to her death.
While the police relied on the CCTV footage from Byculla jail of June 23 in their chargesheet filed in September, the accused submitted that the footage of June 24, when the inmates held a protest in the jail, is key to their case.
Vaibhav Bagade, the defence counsel for the accused submitted that the inmates have made false allegations against the staffers to prevent action against them for the rioting that took place in the jail on June 24. The Nagpada police had first registered a case of rioting against all inmates. The inmates had protested in the prison demanding action against the staffers claiming that it was their assault which led to Shetye’s death. An FIR was then registered against the six staffers.
The court has directed that the prosecution submit the footage of both the days before it on Thursday after which a copy will be given to the accused. The court will then commence to hear arguments on the bail application filed by the accused.
