Three doctors in a state-run hospital in Mumbai have been accused of abetting suicide of a junior colleague by tormenting her with casteist slurs.
The accused, Bhakti Mehre and Hema Ahuja were taken into custody on Tuesday while a third doctor Ankita Khandelwal was arrested on Wednesday. The three are most likely to be produced before the court.
The three doctors were arrested for allegedly abetting the post-graduate medical student Tadvi, who belonged to the Scheduled Tribe community, to end her life on May 22.
Protesters belonging to the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and other Dalit and tribal organisations held protests outside the BYL Nair Hospital here over Tadvi’s death. They demanded stringent action against the three seniors who allegedly drove her to end her life by “torturing her by ragging and hurling casteist abuses at her.”
Payal’s mother said, “Payal used to tell me about the torture which she was facing by her seniors on petty issues. They threw files on her face in front of patients,” she said.
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“Payal used to tell me not to give a written complaint against her seniors despite being harassed by them. She would say that doing so would adversely impact their career.”
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken a suo moto cognisance of the matter and written to the hospital administration, requesting to appraise with the action taken in the case. On Monday, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women had issued a notice to Dean of the BYL Nair Hospital seeking a report on the action taken in the case.
“The NCW is deeply disturbed…It is a matter of serious concern,” NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma wrote in the letter addressed to hospital director Dr Avinas Supe.
Earlier, the hospital administration of BLY Nair Hospital had formed an anti-ragging committee to probe the suicide.
The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has suspended the three doctors. The accused doctors, on Monday, wrote to the association urging to ensure ‘fair’ probe into the issue.
(With inputs from ANI)