Two Doctors Accused In Payal Tadvi Suicide Case Get Clean Chit

Two of the three resident doctors at the B Y L Nair Hospital, Dr Yi Ching Ling and Dr S D Shirodkar who were named as accused in the suicide case of Payal Tadvi allegedly because of caste-based harassment, have been given a clean chit by the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) today. The commission noted that the family of Payal, who committed suicide on May 22 this year, could not produce documentary evidence of written complaints against the two doctors that would establish that they had been bullying Payal for a year.

“The two doctors, through their lawyers, have explained the circumstances and put forth their side. They conveyed that they never received any written complaint from Dr Payal Tadvi or her family,” said MSHRC chairperson M A Sayeed, Indian Express reported. He added that neither Payal's husband or her mother showed any document of written complaints to the two faculty heads.

Also read: My First Encounter With Caste, And How It Made Me Extremely Uneasy

“Dr Payal Tadvi’s husband is a government employee and well aware that there are anti-ragging cells that can take preemptive action. However, no complaints were made to either of the two heads of the department,” Sayeed said.

However, on the other side, Payal's husband, Dr Salman Tadvi claims that the state is making them scapegoat. “We never gave a written complaint because we were continuously assured that our complaints will be heard and considered. We all were worried that giving a written complaint would impact her (Dr Payal Tadvi) career and increase the wrath of the seniors who were ragging her,” he said.

Payal's mother Abeda in her cross-examination before the MSHRC also said that they had met both the faculty heads and told them their concerns in return of which they assured them of action to be taken against the accused doctors. “We never escalated the issue because we were told that it will be handled. That’s why we didn’t go to the anti-ragging cell. The cell should have taken action before the ragging happened,” Salman said.

Also read: Handwriting In Suicide Note Is Payal Tadvi’s, Says Analyst

Earlier in August, the Bombay High Court has granted bail to all the three doctors - Hema Ahuja, Ankita Khandelwal, and Bhakti Meher - who are the main accused in the suicide case. They are senior doctors at the Topiwala National Medical College.

“We never gave a written complaint because we were continuously assured that our complaints will be heard and considered. We all were worried that giving a written complaint would impact her (Dr Payal Tadvi) career and increase the wrath of the seniors who were ragging her,”

Tadvi, who hailed from Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, joined the PG course on May 1, 2018. She did her MBBS from the Government Medical College in Miraj and then she went to Sangli for a year for her internship, before joining the PG course. When she had just joined the PG course and shifted to Mumbai, she was asked to share her room with Dr Ahuja and Dr Mehar. On May 22, her body was found hanging in her hostel room on the medical college’s premises.

Picture credit: Twitter/ Vishal Sonara