Pune:
A woman serving life imprisonment for the murder of her son was crushed to death after she was pulled into a dough-kneading machine in the early hours of Sunday. According to Yerawada prison authorities, it was an accident and they had ruled out the possibility of suicide by the prisoner. The jail authorities have now decided to fit an iron grill on the machine.
According to authorities, 10 women who were assigned kitchen duties, including the victim Usha Ganpat Chavan (36), started their work as usual when around 4.45 am jail guard Swati Vani heard faint screams emanating from the kitchen of the women's jail. When Ms Vani went to check, she found Ms Chavan had been pulled inside the dough-kneading machine and was lying in a pool of blood.
Jail Superintendent S V Khatavkar said the accident took place after Ms Chavan had already finished 70 per cent of her work. "When this incident took place there were three women present in the hall, but no one claimed to have heard Chavan's cries for help," he said. "We suspect this must have happened all of a sudden and as a result, she must not have had enough time to cry for help."
He said it was unlikely that Ms Chavan fallen asleep. "She had completed most of her work, so we can't say this happened in a bout of sleep. Before inmates are assigned early morning kitchen duty, it is made sure that they have performed their morning ablutions; they are asked to wash their face with cold water to avoid accidents due to a bout of sleep," he said.
He also ruled out the possibility of a fight with other inmates. "We have recorded statements of all other nine inmates who were assigned kitchen duties; they were inconsolable after the death of inmate. And after assessing the statements of other inmates regarding Chavan, we do not feel that she was in any sort of depression. We suspect it was an accident," said the Superintendent.
Ms Chavan is survived by her husband and two sons. Ganpat, the inmate's husband, while speaking to MiD DAY raised the suspicion that there could have been a scuffle between the inmates, following which his wife was pushed into the dough-kneading machine by others, leading to her death.
The victim's nephew said his aunt had been assigned this work for the last many years and was practiced at it. "How could there be an accident of this kind?" he said.
Jail authorities performed an inquest
panchanama on the spot. An autopsy is to be performed in the presence of a magistrate, as is done in the case of custodial deaths. According to jail authorities, everyday inmates are served three rotis for lunch. The dough is kneaded in an automatic machine to prepare rotis for all 330 inmates.