Mumbai medical student suicide: 3 accused doctors arrested, college releases shocking report

A medical student allegedly committed suicide on May 22 in her room in the private hospital she was studying her PG gynecology due to alleged castist slur by seniors. Protests erupted and the accused doctors were arrested on May 29. They have been booked under relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Anti-Ragging Act, the IT Act and Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC.

A special court remanded the senior doctors – Bhakti Mehere, Hema Ahuja and Ankita Khandelwal – to police custody till May 31. Additional sessions judge R.M. Sadrani remanded the three accused after accepting the prosecution’s arguments, seeking their custody for interrogation to ascertain if they misplaced or destroyed Tadvi’s purported suicide note.

The anti-ragging committee of the college has found that Dr Payal Tadvi faced “extreme harassment.” The report relies on statements of 30 people, including Payal’s family, colleagues and staff.

Tadvi’s husband Salman Tadvi filed a verbal complaint with the gynaecology unit head Y.I. Ching Ling on May 13. For the next two days, the three accused seniors did not speak with Payal Tadvi. On the third day, the family told Indian Express, one of them threw a file at her and called her work “shoddy.” On the fourth day, the seniors threatened Tadvi, saying they will ensure that she does not graduate to the third year, the family claims. Salman, a doctor himself, alleged it was possible that Tadav was "murdered" by the three women doctors.

“She cried every day. She said the complaint to the unit head yielded no response from the hospital. Instead, the torture increased every day,” alleged Abeda, Payal’s mother, reports The Wire.

However, the 3 accused have claimed that it was work pressure and have denied caste discrimination.