Payal Salman Tadvi, a 23-year old Mumbai- based doctor who was found dead in her room at BYL Nair Hospital on May 22 committed suicide after harassment at the hands of senior, accuses her mother. The mother said Payal’s seniors had persistently harassed her with casteist remarks. The three accused doctors in the killing have been identified as Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehar and Ankita Khandelwal. Their membership has been cancelled by the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) and the three are currently on the run.
A senior police officer said an FIR has been lodged and the accused face a case under stringent law which gives no scope of bail to protect Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes from atrocities. Tadvi’s mother said she had complained to the management but no action was taken against the accused. She also claimed that the hospital management had only verbally assured the family of giving justice to their daughter and refused to commit the promise in writing.
Seeking justice, Payal’s mother said her daughter had told her that three seniors (accused) would always torture her tribal community identity and used casteist slurs on her. On the other hand, the three accused have written to the hospital management to conduct a fair investigation and emphasized that media pressure should not overshadow the transparent mechanism of a fair investigation.
Denying Payal’s mother’s allegations against the hospital, dean Ramesh Bharmal said no complaint was made by the mother about the alleged torture being meted out to her daughter and till date, the hospital hasn’t received any complaint. He said the hospital has formed an anti-ragging committee and the three accused have been summoned too.
On the contrary, one of the deceased’s colleagues reiterated her mother’s claims about management failure and said her mother had reported to the authorities about the harassment meted out to her daughter but no action was taken. If the management had acted on time, Payal could have been saved, three careers would not have gone wasted, added Payal’s colleague.
