Byculla jail death : Six women staff will not be lodged in city prison for trial

 

Six officials of the Byculla jail were arrested in connection with the death of a woman prisoner. (File Photo)

Mateen Hafeez | TNN | Jun 21, 2018, 05:01 IST

MUMBAI: The prison authorities on Wednesday said they don't have any plan to shift six female jail officials accused of killing a convict, Manjula Sheteye, from Thane central prison to Byculla women's prison for trial.
The crime branch had arrested the six officials, including jailer Manisha Pokharkar, and constables Bindu Naikade, Waseema Shaikh, Shital Shegaonkar, Surekha Gulve and Aarti Shingne, on July 1, 2017, for kicking and punching Sheteye to death in the prison. A day after special judge Shayana Patil of the sessions court framed charges against the six suspended women jail staffers, a senior jail official said, "They have been kept at Thane Central Jail and we don't have any plan to shift them to Byculla women's prison. They will be transported from Thane to Mumbai by the police escort in a van." Usually, inmates facing trial in Mumbai are shifted to Mumbai jails if lodged outside the city for security reasons and to save time.

All the accused were lodged at the Byculla women's jail where the incident took place. Sheena Bora murder case accused, Indrani Mukherjea, is also lodged in this prison and due to some security reasons, she was previously produced before a court through video-conferencing facility for her case hearing.

The jail authorities are still to decide on producing the accused jail staffers through video-conferencing. "If we get an order from court, we can do it," said the officer.

The Times of India, June 21, 2018

Roza unites faiths in women’s jail

Mateen Hafeez and Mohua Das | TNN | Jun 11, 2018, 05:00 IST

 

(Representative image)

 

 

MUMBAI: Like the others, she wakes up when it is still dark for her Sehri, the pre-dawn Roza meal, so that she can abstain from food and drinks for the rest of the day. She breaks her fast at dusk and will continue to follow the Roza routine like the others until the sighting of the moon next week. But unlike the other Rozadar women, Pushpa Singh is a Hindu.

Pushpa isn’t the only one crossing the religious divide this Ramzan. In a rare gesture of communal camaraderie, as many as 25 Hindu women inmates at the Byculla women’s prison are stepping outside their egos and thresholds to observe Roza—rising, fasting and eating—together with more than a hundred of their Muslim counterparts, in the hope of good luck, good health and good companionship.

“It’s wonderful to see Hindu prisoners rise three hours before their wakeup call and follow the Roza rituals. Together, they make arrangements for over 130 people to eat. Most of them are on trial for murder, fraud and other crimes, but it’s interesting to see their faith in the almighty irrespective of their individual allegiance,” said a jail official.

Seema Patil may have been arrested for assault, but in prison she seems keen on trying out a more amicable life. “I have heard about Ramzan since I was a child, but never seen it being observed from such close quarters. Watching my fellow inmates go about their rituals made me curious and I wanted to experience it too. I don’t read the Namaz but when they pray, I sit nearby and pray too. It’s all an attempt to find a connection with God,” Patil told an officer in the jail.

Religions may contradict one another, but that has barely made a dent in this prison. Of the 317 incarcerated women in the Byculla women’s prison, 200 are Muslim. Regardless of their own faith, many fast because their fellow inmate in the same cell is fasting. Some of the Hindu inmates take care of the children as their mothers partake in Namaz and Iftaar while many others avoid turning on the television in their barracks during those hours, informed a senior jail official.

Byculla jail cell turned into ‘Ramzan barrack’

The ambience is very different during these days, especially when Muslim and Hindu prisoners go to the jail canteen together to buy fruits,” said the officer.

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With temperatures touching 40 degrees in Mumbai, special space has been made in one of the barracks for praying and breaking fast; jail timings too have been relaxed for fasting prisoners.

Aruna Mugutrao, Byculla jail’s superintendent, says, “We’ve turned one of the cells into a Ramzan barrack where Rozadar inmates are kept. Iftaar is organised in a separate barrack called Rozadar cell. It’s easier for us to manage too. Male prisoners lodged in another section of the prison cook the Sehri meals.”
Navratri, hoping their prayers too would be heard.


(Names changed for privacy)


The Times of India, June 11, 2018

Govt officer's wife held in Rs 4cr forex con

Mateen Hafeez   Mumbai: The wife of a passport officer from Thane was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly cheating people of Rs 3.5 crore. Sunita Sharma (46) had lured her acquaintances by promising high returns on investment, said an official from the economic offences wing of the Mumbai police.  A criminal offence had been lodged on January 25 this year after one of the investors, Krushi Bhutani, who lost Rs 7.5 lakh, lodged a complaint, saying that Sharma had lured him with the promise of returns ranging from 10% to 15%. The police said that Sharma worked for a company in Bandra-Kurla Complex and some of her victims were from that office. So far, 25 investors have complained against Sharma. “She lured investors to invest in her foreign exchange business. But none of the investors knew whether their money was invested in foreign exchange. We found that Sharma had no such business,” said a police officer. The officer said that the postdated cheques she had issued to investors bounced. “Her bank account is frozen,” said the officer, adding that she will be in custody till May 15.  

The Times of India, May 11, 2017