On May 22, a postgraduate student of gynaecology, Dr Payal Tadvi committed suicide after being allegedly tortured by three of her seniors. The 26-year-old woman and the absconding seniors were post graduate students of the Topiwala National Medical college, which is attached to the BYL Nair hospital.
Dr Payal was taunted about her caste and her admission to the course through the reserved quota. Her parents decided to act on it. Tadvi’s mother, who is suffering from cancer said, “We had started reporting this to the officials concerned. We had even met a lecturer and the hostel warden, who had called these three seniors and asked them not to behave this way with Payal.
“I had called her in the afternoon of May 22, when she told me her seniors were still torturing her. I told her that her father and I were coming to Mumbai to file a complaint at the hospital and the police station, but she couldn’t bear it any longer,” Abeda Tadvi said as quoted by Mid-Day.
Reportedly, the deceased had two surgeries earlier in the day and after performing her job she went to her room. Around 3-4 hours later her body was discovered hanging by a dupatta from a ceiling fan in the room, after she didn’t answer the door knocks. She was taken to the emergency ward, where doctors declared her dead. Abeda filed an FIR against the seniors, identified as Dr. Hema Ahuja, Dr. Bhakti Mehar and Dr. Ankita Khandelwal.
“Had the authorities acted swiftly and shown sensitivity, my daughter would have been alive today,” said Abeda Tadvi, mother of Dr Payal Tadvi .
Tadvi’s parents have demanded an FIR for abetment to suicide, ragging be registered besides sections under the Atrocities Act against three doctors at the hospital who allegedly tortured her to end her life.
Her father Salim told mid-day, “The first six months were fine; some words had been exchanged between seniors and juniors, but Payal never thought it would lead to torture. As soon as it happened in December 2018, she told us about it. We discussed this with her husband, Dr. Salman [Tadvi], who said things like these keep happening and she should just ignore them.”
“I want cops to punish these girls as well as officials who didn’t pay heed to her complaints and tried to sweep everything under the carpet,” Salim, Dr Payal’s father added.
A case has been registered against the three seniors, which includes sections from the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
