The crime branch has strongly opposed clean chits to two doctors Bhakti Mehare and Ankita Khandelwal accused of caste-based harassment that allegedly led to the death by suicide of Dr. Payal Tadvi in 2019, stating that over 100 witnesses - including roommates, colleagues and hospital staff had given statements that she was indeed humiliated and harassed by them.
Tadvi, a student of post-graduation course in BYL Nair’s Gynaecology and Obstetrics department had died by suicide on May 22, 2019, in her hostel room in the college premises. Her seniors Bhakti Mehare, Hema Ahuja and Ankita Khandelwal were booked for abetting her suicide by subjecting her to constant caste humiliation.
In a response filed before the sessions court, the crime branch has said among the statements that speak of such harassment are those of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff who worked in the wards with Tadvi. Similar were the statements of her roommates and colleagues too, where they have stated that she was humiliated and deliberately harassed by the accused.
Tadvi died on May 22, 2019, in her hostel room. The response cited that a complaint letter submitted by her mother and complainant Abeda Tadvi on May 13, 2019, at the inward department of the BYL Nair Hospital has also been seized. The mother had written in the letter that if anything happens to her daughter, the three are responsible. The letter contains a stamp from the department.
It said that it had seized the stamp and stamp pad during the probe and sent the letter along with these articles to the forensic lab. It had asked specific queries if the stamp on the letter is of the hospital’s department and also if the ink on it matches with that from the stamp pad. It said the results had come positive for these.
Three days prior to her mother submitting the letter, Tadvi had called her mother in despair and said that she was constantly being harassed by the three seniors and that they would not let her complete her studies. Her mother had told her she would come there on May 13 and complain to higher authorities. That day, she had come with a complaint letter accompanied by her niece, but was not permitted to meet the higher up. She submitted the complaint at the hospital’s inward department as advised. At that time, Tadvi’s husband Salman came to the hospital and told his mother-in-law that if the complaint is made, the harassment may increase and on second thought, they had taken the letter back. By the time, it had been stamped by the department.
In a plea through advocate Vaibhav Jagtap, Khandelwal had claimed discharge in the case stating that there is ample evidence that Tadvi died by suicide as she could not handle work stress. Bhakti Mehare had also denied her involvement in the offence.
