Mumbai, May 28 (IANS) The Mumbai Police claimed to have arrested one of the three absconding doctors of BYL Nair Hospital, wanted in connection with suicide of medical student Payal Tadvi, here on Tuesday.
“We have arrested Bhakti Mehere,” Mumbai Police spokesperson and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Manjunath Shinge told IANS. Two others — Hema Ahuja and Ankita Khandelwal — are on the run and have moved the court for anticipatory bail.
On May 22, 25-year-old Tadvi, a second year resident post-graduate gynaecology and obstetrics student, hanged herself in the hostel of the hospital. The deceased’s family has accused the three doctors of allegedly discriminating, harassing and torturing Muslim-tribal medico Tadvi.
In a related development, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which runs the BYL Nair Hospital, has suspended licences of the three doctors and the head of department Yi Ching Ling for alleged abetment of Tadvi’s suicide.
The trio was earlier suspended by the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors and (MARD) later by the BMC for allegedly abetting her suicide with casteist insults.
The Mumbai Police on last Sunday slapped charges on the three under the Atrocities Act, the Anti-Ragging Act, IT Act and Indian Penal Code.
Meanwhile, parents of Tadvi, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, various women, tribal and Dalits organisations, and student unions continued their protests outside the hospital for the second day demanding stringent action against the medicos and the hospital authorities.
Health Minister Girish Mahajan on Tuesday called on Tadvi’s mother Abeda Tadvi and husband Salman Tadvi and assured them of full cooperation and compensation.
Tadvi’s mother demanded that the government must ensure safety of students like her daughter, hailing from reserved categories.
She said Payal would have become the first woman post-graduate doctor from the Bhil community, but her promising medical career was snapped. In fact, Payal and Salman are the first medico couple to emerge from the community.
Mumbai Congress chief Milind M. Deora and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad plan to raise the issue with the Mumbai Police Commissioner and other authorities demanding justice for Tadvi.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women and the Maharashtra State Women’s Commission have taken cognizance and sought reports on the suicide from the BMC and the hospital.
On Monday, the three absconding medicos had written to the MARD demanding fair investigation into the case and justice to them without succumbing to police or media pressure.
This was the first time in the state that a post-graduate medico had committed suicide over alleged harassment on grounds of caste, MARD General Secretary Deepak Mundhe told IANS. “In the past three-four years, we have seen increase in such behaviour against students coming from the reserved categories, which is unfortunate,” Mundhe said.
A social media campaign #JusticeForPayal has been kicked off in which prominent personalities from all over the country have demanded justice for the deceased.
–IANS
qn/pg/pcj