Maharashtra jails reach out to women with helpline numbers

In a bid to boost the morale of the women prisoners in Maharashtra, the Women’s Commission ordered that placards of their helpline numbers must be placed inside the women’s barracks, so that they can call directly for help in order to avoid any incident like Manjula Shetye’s death.

The placards will have the contact numbers of the officials, address of the local Women’s Commission and email id in bold fonts.

“The installation of such boards inside women barracks of jails will begin from Monday,” said Rahatakar. The chief of Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW), Vijaya Rahatkar, announced this initiative a day after her visit

to the Byculla jail, where a murder convict inmate Manjula Shetye succumbed to the brutal injuries inflicted by the prison authorities.

The news of Shetye’s death has sent shockwaves in the state. Meanwhile, after the incident on June 23, other jail inmates went to the terrace to draw the attention of general public to the situation in which 200 inmates have been slapped with charges for rioting and instigation.

A senior official of Maharashtra prisons said that the two under trial inmates Amrita Mathew (41) and Varsha Nair (30), imprisoned in Byculla jail for cheating case, were assaulted by their co-prisoners for complaining about the shortage of food that triggered jailer and guards to assault Shetye. At present both the inmates have been shifted to a separate ladies ward inside the jail for security reasons.

“We will check if Mathew and Nair want to register case against the rioters including Indrani Mukherjea, Divya Pahuja and others,” said the prison official.