Hell Has Another Name: Byculla Jail in Mumbai

At Byculla Jail in Mumbai, women prisoners are made to drink their urine when there is water shortage. It is a hell on earth.

The Byculla Jail for women shot in to fame, rather infame, when an inmate Manjula Sheyte was tortured to death. But here is the inside story from the jail which shows that hell is probably a better place.

The jail faces water shortage quite often. On these occasions, the inmates are asked to drink their own urine if they ask for more water.

The inmates are given a single bar of soap a month for bathing, washing utensils and their cloths. As a result, many women prisoners have rashes.

Each inmate gets just six sanitary pads a month. If they are found with extra sanitary pads, they are beaten up black and blue.

The toilets stink and are dirty.

All these details came to light when a group of women parliamentarians visited the Byculla Jail. They were part of a women empowerment committee, and included Congress MP Rajani Patil and BJP MP Raksha Khadse. The parliamentarians’ visit comes in the wake of the murder of inmate Manjula Shetye by the jail staff.

After the visit, a visibly upset Patil said she was extremely disturbed. “These women are being tortured, just like the British and Portuguese tortured Indians hundreds of years ago,” she was quoted in Mumbai Mirror.

A member of the parliamentarians’ group said they avoided speaking to individual prisoners as they might be later singled out by the jail authorities for torture.

The parliamentarians met former media entrepreneur Indrani Mukerjea, who is also an inmate for allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena Bora. Indrani told the parliamentarians that they had burnt clothes on the jail’s terrace on the day of rioting, and it was only done to grab media attention.

The parliamentarians now plan to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and brief him about a hell called Byculla Jail.

But in neighbouring State of Karnataka, things are different. Here AIADMK leader VK Sasikala was able to get a kitchen for herself at the high security Parapana Agrahara Jail by paying Rs 2 crore as bribe.

Stamp paper racket kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi has two inmates to assist him and massage his legs. He has a TV, a ceiling fan, water dispenser and other luxuries.

A tale of two jails!