The senior doctors in abetting the suicide of Mumbai doctor Payal Tadvi have been arrested by the state police, according to latest reports.
Earlier, protests organised by the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and other Dalit tribal organisations were held today outside the BYL Nair Hospital over the suicide case of 26-year-old Payal Tadvi. She was allegedly driven to suicide by casteist remarks hurled at her by some senior doctors at the state-run hospital, in Mumbai.
Payal committed suicide on May 22, according to her mother and husband who joined the protest the senior doctors tortured her due to which she committed suicide and they demand strictest actions against the accused.
Dr Salman, husband of Payal said, " We want government intervention and the police are doing nothing at this moment. It may be possible that they murdered her."
Payal, who was a Post Graduate (PG) second-year resident doctor pursuing gyaenocology in BYL Nair Hospital was found hanging in her room on May 22. On that day she had called her mother and told her that she could not bear any more torture. She was tortured by three senior doctors Hema Ahuja, Ankita Khandelwal and Bhakti Mehare of the gynaecology unit for a very long time as she belonged from an ST( Scheduled Tribe) caste family.
They used to harass her by hurling casteist remarks at her as she got admission due to her reservation. They used to tell her that she will not be allowed to enter the operation theatre as she belongs to the lower caste. The seniors even took this to an extreme level by wiping their feet on her bed as they told her that she deserves that.
The hospital authorities has suspended the doctors and the three of them have been booked under The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, by the Agripada police. A 21 member anti-ragging committee is also investigating the incident.
Her family alleged that she has been harassed for a long time, a year back she even informed her husband who initially did not react to it but later approacher her unit head to transfer her and she got transferred. But when she entered the second year she was again sent to that unit and finally committed suicide due to the torture.
The Maharashtra State Commission for Women has issued a notice to the hospital demanding a reply regarding the action taken for this heinous crime.
A senior official of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) as quoted by PTI said, " We have proper evidence that the three senior doctors made casteist remarks at her. We will cooperate with the police in the investigation process."
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav condemned the incident and said that it is a murder of the protection given to scheduled tribes by the constitution.
