Not only Manjula Shetye, jailors thrashed other Mumbai jail inmate too, says charge sheet

Fazleen Shaikh, who is a witness in the case, said she too was beaten up by Pokharkar.

Manjula Shetye, who was murdered in June in Byculla jail, was not the only inmate who was allegedly beaten up by jailor Manisha Pokharkar and her staff. Fazleen Shaikh, who is a witness in the case, said she too was beaten up by Pokharkar.

38-year-old Manjula Shetye was murdered on June 23.

Her statement is part of the charge sheet filed by the Mumbai crime branch against six jail staff: Pokharkar, and constables Bindu Naikade, Waseema Shaikh, Shital Shegaonkar, Surekha Gulve and Aarti Shingne. Statements of 182 witnesses were recorded in the charge sheet filed on September 26. On April 11, Shailkh was taken to the Thane sessions court for a hearing. Her family handed over ‘keemapav’ to her. Shaikh said when she returned to the jail, she was taken to the jailor’s office.

“In the office, constable Aarti Avasarmol thrashed me for carrying food to the jail. She later complained to Pokharkar and Ratan Khilari about it. When Pokharkar learnt about it, she and Khilari too beat me up with a stick in the afternoon,” said Shaikh.

She was threatened by Pokharkar and staff to not reveal anything or else they would frame her in a false case.Shetye‘s supervision of a function in the jail did not go down well with the jailer who threatened her over this on June 1, said Shaikh. Pokharkar had told Shetye that she too would be beaten up like Shaikh.

British national Julie Warner, who is lodged in Byculla prison, witnessed the assault on Shaikh and Shetye. She said that Pokharkar is a ‘wicked woman’. Her statement is part of the charge sheet. She was present in the barrack no. 5 where Shetye was assaulted. Pokharkar and her team stopped assaulting Shetye owing to Warner’s intervention. “Pokharkar is a wicked woman. She used to keep all the letters sent to me with her and never handed them to me. The UK embassy personnel had been to jail premises to meet me. I had also complained to the embassy personnel about her rude behaviour. Pokharkar used to beat up and abuse all inmates and wardens,” Warner said.