Mumbai: The anti-ragging committee set up to probe the death of 26-year-old Dr Payal Tadvi has found the doctors who tormented her with casteist slurs guilty of abetting her suicide. One week after the suicide of Payal, her family has been assured by the state government that justice will be done. Girish Mahajan, the Maharashtra medical education minister, confirmed that Dr Tadvi was subjected to casteist slurs and has promised that the trio would be arrested.
Mahajan visited the family, who were protesting outside the gates of the BYL Nair Hospital on Tuesday. Her parents said the manner in which her body was treated after the alleged suicide amounted to murder. The accused trio — Drs Hema Ahuja, Ankita Khandilwal and Bhakti Mehere — have claimed in a letter that they were not involved in ragging or harassing Dr Tadvi.
However, investigations by the anti-ragging committee have found them guilty. Meanwhile, Agripada Police have arrested Dr Mehere; this is first arrest in the case. On Tuesday, Mahajan confirmed the inquiry reports had shown the deceased medico was subjected to harassment and the seniors had made casteist remarks against her. “The inquiry committee has found the three doctors guilty.
As claimed by the family, Payal was subjected to harassment and we will not let go of the culprits. They will be arrested soon,” said Mahajan. Several junior doctors from medical colleges like the King Edward Memorial (KEM), The Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General (Sion), Cooper, and Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy (JJ) hospitals, have demanded that justice be done to Payal’s memory.
They unanimously refuted the claims of the three accused doctors that Payal had taken the extreme step due to work pressure. A junior medical student pursuing MBBS at KEM hospital said, “Dr Payal had completed her MBBS following oneyear of rural posting, which is considered most hectic and pressurising. If she could survive that, then postgraduate studies are much easier and it definitely cannot break a 26-year-old.
For a doctor to commit suicide, imagine the amount of harassment she must have endured.” Payal’s husband, Dr Salman Tadvi said, there is a possibility the three accused doctors may have taken the suicide note written by Dr Tadvi and even destroyed it. The trio had broken into her room.
“When Payal was not answering their calls, the three seniors went to her room, which they found locked from inside. They broke open the door and saw her body hanging from the ceiling fan. They left her room open for an hour and we believe there is a possibility the trio could have destroyed the suicide note which they found because they knew they were guilty,” said Dr Salman, who is an assistant professor at Cooper Hospital.
Moreover, the hospital delayed giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to Payal. “I was near Nair Hospital when I received a call around 7.30pm. I rushed to the hospital and gave her CPR but till then, nobody had attempted to revive her. This left no chance of her survival. If this is not murder, then what is it? This is not just a suicide,” said Dr Salman.