Mumbai, May 29 (IANS) A Mumbai Special Court on Wednesday remanded till May 31 three women doctors arrested in connection with the suicide of a medico Payal Tadvi, a law official said.
Bhakti Meher, Hema Ahuja and Ankita Khandelwal were arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday, said lawyer for the Tadvi family, Nitin Satpute.
Arguing for remand for the three women doctors, Satpute told Additional Sessions Judge R.M. Sadrani that there was a possibility of the case being one of murder since some injury marks were found on the victim’s private parts as per the autopsy report.
The prosecution also sought custodial interrogation of the three accused to know whether there was any suicide note left by Tadvi and if it was misplaced or hidden by them.
A Second Year Post-Graduate student of Gynaecology, Tadvi, 25, committed suicide in her hostel room on May 22 at the government-run BYL Nair Hospital.
Her family claimed that she had been driven to suicide owing to casteist remarks on her Muslim tribal background and other forms of personal and professional harassment.
Soon after the suicide, the three main accused — Meher, Ahuja and Khandelwal — absconded and were nabbed during the past 24 hours. They were produced before the Special Court on Wednesday.
The accused doctors, suspended by the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors earlier this week, were later suspended by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation which runs the BYL Nair Hospital.
The BMC has suspended the medical licences of the three doctors and the Head of Department Yi Ching Ling for alleged abetment of Tadvi’s suicide.
The Mumbai Police has registered offences against the three doctors slapping charges under the Atrocities Act, the Anti-Ragging Act, IT Act and Indian Penal Code.
As the issued snowballed into a major controversy, the National Commission for Women and Maharashtra State Women’s Commission have taken serious cognizance and sought reports on Tadvi’s suicide from the BMC and the BYL Nair Hospital.
–IANS
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