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Mumbai:
In a landmark decision, Mumbai High Court Tuesday directed the State
Government to initiate a departmental inquiry against former
superintendent of Arthur Road jail Swati Sathe and other prison
officials in connection with the assault on undertrials, including
the accused in the Mumbai train and Malegaon blasts cases.
The division
bench of Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice A. R. Joshi who directed
the state government to initiate enquiry against prison officials
further ordered an inquiry against the jail doctors for “dereliction
of duty and for fudging the records’’.
The division bench directives further said that if needed
criminal action can also be initiated against the concerned
officers. The judges also termed the transfer of the accused from
Arthur Road jail to other jails in the state as wrong. According to
the court, the transfer of the prisoners was “illegal’’ and they
should be brought back to Arthur Road jail.
If the State
wishes to transfer the prisoners, a proper application should be
filed before the appropriate trial court, the judges said.
A petition was
filed against the jail officials in July 2008 by Saeed Shaikh, son
of one of the Mumbai train blasts accused Mohammed Shaikh alleging
that his father and many other prisoners were mercilessly beaten
with batons, sticks and stones. His father fractured his leg, and
the petition alleges he was not given any medical treatment. Shaikh
had alleged at least 30 accused were beaten mercilessly on June 28,
2008 under the guise of shifting them to other prisons.
However, alleging that the accused were beaten up only after they
started shouting anti-India slogans, Swati Sathe justified the
beating. Sathe had on her affidavit said that the undertrial
prisoners started shouting anti national and provocative slogans,
like "Pakistan Jindabad, Hindustan Murdabad'' soon after they were
moved to a special cell for being transferred to a Kolhapur prison.
Sathe
had contended that the jail manual allows jail authorities to use
force whenever necessary and accordingly minimal force was used.
However, the petitioner’s counsel argued that there was no occasion
for the use of force.
“It was
impossible to believe that the prisoners would confront about 200
policemen, “including 50 equipped with guns”, petitioner’s counsel
had said while brushing aside the allegations. Following a
complaint, the HC ordered the principal session judge to prepare an
order, which went against the jail officials.
“Force was used
against undertrials for no fault of theirs,’’ said the judges.
“Force was used excessively for extraneous reasons and law was also
flouted.’’
The court has
asked State Chief Secretary Johny Joseph to start the disciplinary
inquiry within a month and complete it within six months time.
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