Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday rapped authorities at the Byculla prison and Mumbai police for recording the death of an inmate, Manjula Shetye, 45, as an accidental death.

Shetye was serving a life sentence at the women’s prison in Byculla, central Mumbai.

She died at the government-run JJ Hospital, on the night of June 23, after allegedly being assaulted by a woman official and five woman constables on the same day.

Prison officials had claimed she had fallen in the prison toilet.

The police on Monday told the court Shetye fell unconscious after falling down in the prison washroom and said her death was accidental.

However, a division bench of Justices R.M. Savant and Sadhana Jadhav said, “Till date, you [crime branch] have left no stone unturned to see to it that it is seen as an accidental death. How can you treat this as accidental death? We have no words to say about your carelessness.”

The High Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Pune resident Pradeep Bhalekar, who has sought the investigation be transferred to an independent agency.

The court was also not happy with the variances in the post-mortem report and death information certificate issued by a doctor of the JJ Hospital.

The bench noted, “The post-mortem report observed injuries on the body of the victim but the certificate issued by one Vishwesh Rote, a doctor of JJ Hospital, says ‘no obvious external injuries noted’.

“We are not casting any apprehensions on the probe by the crime branch, but take attempts to ensure that jail officials don’t mislead the court by twisting facts.”

The court asked the state to file a further status report and the matter would be heard on July 31.

Shetye’s death hit the headlines after a high profile inmate, Indrani Mukherjee, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, staged a protest along with 250 prisoners in the jail and were booked for rioting and unlawful assembly.

According to witnesses, the incident occurred on June 23 at 9 am when Shetye, who was made warden of her barrack for her good behavior, complained some morning rations of eggs and bread were missing.

This allegedly led to a brutal assault by the jailors, following which she fell unconscious in the bathroom, and the resident doctor advised that she be taken to JJ Hospital immediately.

The crime branch investigating the case has to date arrested six jail officials.

Shetye’s death raised in Rajya Sabha

Meanwhile, the custodial death of Shetye also figured in the Rajya Sabha on Monday with members demanding the setting up of a committee to go into the condition of jails in the country.

“Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention, Vandana Chavan (Nationalist Congress Party) said Shetye was beaten by the jailer and five constables of the jail after she complained of missing eggs and bread from her breakfast,” reported PTI news agency.

“Inmate witnesses have stated that lathi was inserted into her private parts but this was not revealed in the post mortem report, indicating a cover-up, she claimed.

“A DIG who had gone to investigate the incident was also removed after she tried to get witnesses to water down their statements.” Chavan said the committee should look into the human rights of jail inmates.