The Mumbai police, which investigated the case, found a three-page ‘suicide note’ in which Tadvi had, in detail, described her ordeal and the failure of the medical institution T.N. Topiwala National College and B.Y.L. Nair Hospital, to stop the brutalities inflicted upon her and several other Dalit and Adivasi students.

In the suicide note, Tadvi named Bhakti Mehare, Ankita Khandelwal, and Hema Ahuja – her seniors at the gynaecology department in the medical school. She said they had harassed and humiliated her over her tribal identity. She also named Yi Ching Ling, the then-unit head of the gynaecology department at T.N. Topiwala National College and B.Y.L. Nair Hospital – where Tadvi was studying in 2019 – for not taking her complaint seriously.

A week ago, the special court hearing the case in Mumbai allowed the special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat’s application to add Yi as an accused in the case. Special Judge S.M. Tapkire, on February 28, issued summons to Yi and ordered:

“The impleaded/added accused Dr. Yi Ling Chung Chiang be tried together with the trio of charge-sheeted accused.”

The court directed that summons be issued to her and instructed the investigating officer to submit a report by the next date, March 20.

The court’s order came after the public prosecutor moved an application seeking criminal charges against Yi, who according to Tadvi (through her suicide letter) and her family had ignored a serious complaint of harassment. One might imagine that the state government was in agreement with this move. But on March 7, a notification was issued and Gharat was suddenly replaced with another senior public prosecutor. No explanation was given.

This opens the matter up to the speculation that the state government did not want Yi’s name added to the case, and Gharat was replaced because he did not seek the state government’s approval on this move.

Gharat, however, says such permission was not needed in the first place. “Once you are appointed as an officer of the court, it is your responsibility to decide the course of the trial. My application was based on the anti-ragging committee’s report and also the family’s position from the start,” Gharat says.

This is not the first case in which Gharat has been removed. Prior to this, he was suddenly shifted out of other cases involving BJP leaders like Nitish Rane, Narayan Rane, Navneet Rana, and Mohit Kamboj. “I had moved applications and sought strict actions in these cases too. It wasn’t surprising that I was removed from these cases when the Mahayuti government came into power,” Gharat says.

He expresses concern about the decision to remove him from Tadvi’s hearing. “The community (Bhil Tadvi tribe) to which Payal belonged rarely sees a woman reach higher education. She was a role model for many other children like her, but the system killed her,” he says.

Although Gharat was appointed as a special public prosecutor in the case by the state government, his name for the post was suggested by the Tadvi family and their lawyer. As per the rules under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, it is mandatory for the states to let the victim’s family have a say on the choice of the prosecutor. The Maharashtra state government too has issued a notification in 2016 allowing the victim and their family to have a say in the appointment of the public prosecutor. Tadvi’s mother, Abeda, had written a letter to the then tribal development minister Kagda Chandya Padvi (under the Mahavikas Aghadi government) requesting Gharat’s appointment.

Advocate Disha Wadekar, who is representing the family in the higher courts, says that the practice of the victim’s family choosing a lawyer in atrocity cases is very common and has helped prove atrocities in many cases. And in cases where the families have not been able to get their own lawyer, the cases have barely made any progress – “like, for instance, the institutional murder of Rohit Vemula at Hyderabad Central University,” Wadekar says.

Wadekar, along with another lawyer, Nihalsing Rathod, was appointed by the Rajasthan government to represent the state in the rape and subsequent suicide of a 17-year-old student. This appointment, Wadekar notes, also occurred through the family’s request. “Getting a perfectly qualified lawyer removed from the case would disrupt the trial,” Wadekar says.

With: Abeda Tadvi, a cancer survivor who has doggedly followed the case from the start and taken it up to the Supreme Court, has now written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding that Gharat be reappointed. “Advocate Gharat has been handling the case for 3-4 years now and has closely studied it. With him as the public prosecutor, we are hopeful that justice will be done… I request you to bring Advocate Gharat back into the case and allow him to handle it until justice is served,” Abeda Tadvi has written in the letter.

Courtesy: The Wire

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The Supreme Court order allowing three accused in the Payal Tadvi case to continue their education at Topiwala National Medical (TNM) College and BYL Nair Hospital is deeply disappointing, said the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on October 12, 2020.

“We continue to support Dr Payal Tadvi’s family and her lawyers in their fight for justice. We demand that the Government of Maharashtra immediately file a review petition in the SC and appoint a senior lawyer to argue its case,” they said in a press release.

On October 8, the Supreme Court allowed the three accused Dr. Ankita Kailash Khandelwal, Dr. Hema Suresh Ahuja and Dr. Bhakti Arvind Mehare to return to studies, stating that, “The Appellants must be allowed to go back to their courses of study otherwise the pendency of prosecution against them will add further penalty in the form of prejudicing their career. Any such adverse impact will negate their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.”

AIDWA member Sonya Gill blamed the Dean of TNM College, the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) and the Maharashtra government for the court decision. The Anti–Ragging Enquiry Committee Report of the college submitted to the MUHS and the state government recommended suspension of the accused.  However, the suspension order was not based on the report’s findings and recommendation that have a statutory status under the Anti Ragging Act of 1999.

“This serious lapse has allowed the SC to waive the concerns of the College authorities and allow the accused to return to the campus. It is shocking that the anti-ragging provisions are being observed so casually in a renowned College and by the MUHS,” said DYFI member Preethy Sekhar.

The organisations demanded that the Dean and the MUHS are dismissed. Moreover, they said a similar injustice was committed by the Maharashtra Medical Council in restoring licences to practice of the three doctors even though there has not been a single hearing since the Council ordered an enquiry. Accordingly, the organisations demanded the immediate expedition of the enquiry and suspension of the licenses pending the court verdict.

They said the Supreme Court should have considered the gravity of the crime that yet again shows caste-based harassment and campus discrimination in colleges.

“This issue has time and again been highlighted by similar suicides in campuses across the country, from Rohit Vemula to others, and calls for a special law to deal with the scourge of caste-community based campus discrimination.,” they said.

The three doctors were accused of abetting the suicide of junior resident Dr Payal Tadvi who died on May 22, 2019 in the TNM premises. She allegedly suffered severe harassment and humiliation by the senior residents in the obstetrics and gynaecology department for being a member of a tribal community.  They threatened to deny her practical experience and the completion of her post-graduate studies. The accused were booked under the Prevention of Atrocities Against SC/ST Act and were mentioned in the Anti-Ragging Committee Enquiry report of the college. 

The accused were suspended and barred from the TNM campus, pending trial to protect the witnesses in the case. This was noted by the High Court while imposing bail conditions on the accused.

The entire SC order may be read here: 

Related:

Exam failure major trigger for student suicides: NCRB

Dalit man assaulted for selling biryani in Noida

Two Dalit teens assaulted for sitting on chair in Gujarat

Islamophobia: What’s Common between Payal Tadvi and Fathima Latif

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They were granted bail after Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre told the court that they had no objection as the chargesheet in the case had already been filed. The trio will have to submit a surety of Rs 2 lakhs and appear before the crime branch every alternate day. They are also forbidden from leaving the city without the trial court’s permission.

Dr Payal Tadvi, who belonged to a Scheduled Tribe (ST), was pursuing postgraduate studies in gynecology at Mumbai’s prestigious BYL Nair Hospital. On May 22, 2019, she allegedly hanged herself in her hostel room after being allegedly driven to suicide due to harassment. According to friends and colleagues, the three senior doctors harassed Tadvi and used casteist slurs while addressing her and even mocked her on Whatsapp groups. Even after repeated complaints, the hospital administration allegedly failed to take action against the perpetrators. The accused allegedly destroyed the suicide note, but images were recovered from Dr Tadvi’s phone.

Her institutional murder sparked protests and the National Commission for women took suo motu cognisance of the case. A 21 member panel comprising members of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors, college administration, and the police took statements of close to 30 people. These include doctors, professors, the unit in-charge, head of the department, nurses from the operation theatres, lab technician, and her roommates. Police arrested the women and they have been in judicial custody till today.

A trial court had rejected their bail plea on June 24. Now that the accused have secured bail from the high court, the accused have also been forbidden from entering Nair Hospital to prevent them from having the opportunity to tamper with evidence. The court also came down heavily on the prosecution for failing to record statements of six key witnesses including Dr Tadvi’s colleagues such as her roommate Snehal Shinde, and directed them to do so immediately.

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The protest demanding ‘Justice for Dr Payal Tadwi’ held at the Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College on May 31 was led by state general secretary Mahesh Thonnakkal.  Protest gatherings were held at the government medical colleges at Kozhikode, Thrissur and Manjeri on June 3.  The gatherings called to resist the atrocities against Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis in the educational institutions all over the country.  It also urged to frame and enact the Rohit Act, which can safeguard the students of the marginalized sections in the universities in the country.

Dr Payal Tadwi is a martyr of the racism getting strengthened in India, opined Shamseer Ibrahim, state president of the Fraternity Movement, in an article.  The article points towards the ‘cruel indifference on the part of the media in the country even days after the incident’.  While the national media are not bringing out the issue in a pressurizing way, such efforts are seen only from the part of certain social media groups.  ‘Why couldn’t her fellow students and the college authorities consider Payal with equanimity despite having all the academic qualifications and abilities?  Only on finding answer to this question, one can see the dangerous forms of racism in India that are casteism and Islamophobia.  Dr Payal has become the last link in the long list of names such as Rohit Vemula, Mudassir Kamran and Najeeb Ahmed etc,’ he adds in the article.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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Image Courtesy: ANI

The demonstration was led by Dr Tadvi’s mother Abeda and husband Dr Salman. Demanding justice and raising graver questions about the institutional murder of his wife Dr Salman told India Today, “We want the government to intervene. The police are not taking any action. It is possible that Payal was murdered by the three women doctors.”
The protest saw a huge participation from students, especially those who come from Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi backgrounds. Several Adivasi rights organisations were also present at the protest.

Brief background of the case:
On May 22, Dr Payal Tadvi, a 23 year old doctor hailing from a tribal community in Jalgaon allegedly committed suicide at her hostel in Mumbai’s prestigious Nair Hospital after being allegedly harassed by three seniors who would use casteist slurs against her. According to friends and colleagues, three senior doctors harassed Tadvi and used casteist slurs while addressing her and even mocked her on Whatsapp groups. They have been identified as Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehar and Ankita Khandelwal. 

Even after repeated complaints, the hospital administration failed to take action against the perpetrators. This makes it a case of institutional murder, not unlike that of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula. 

Action taken:
An FIR has been registered against them under sections of the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act, IT Act, as well as section 306 of the IPC. The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has also suspended the trio’s registration. Gynaecology unit head Dr. Yi Chin Ling has also been suspended.

Even as the protests took place on Tuesday, the BMC followed in the MARD’s footsteps and suspended the licenses of the accused pending an inquiry. The Maharashtra State Commission for Women has also taken suo mostu cognizance of the case and written to the dean of the hospital demanding a report be submitted in eight days detailing anti-ragging measures and communication between the administration and students.

Meanwhile, a 21 member anti-ragging panel has taken statements of nearly 30 people in connection with the case. These include doctors, professors, nurses and other staff. The panel includes representatives from MARD, college administration and the police. Dr. Ramesh BHarmal, dean of the hospital told The Hindu, “Nearly 30 people, including the unit in charge, head of the department, nurses from the operation theatres, lab technician, and her roommates were questioned.”

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In truly technical terms Dr. Payal Tadvi committed suicide on May 22, 2019, in her hostel room in Mumbai. But for all practical reasons, I would call it a murder, a crime which was not merely of racial hatred but also looked like Islamophobia as she belonged to a tribal community practising the Islamic faith. The 26 -year-old gynaecologist was pursuing her post-graduate course and would have become the first doctor from her community. It is so difficult for the Adivasis to come up when there is so much concealed hatred.
 
It is reported that Payal had complained to higher authorities about the continuous harassment by her Savarna colleagues and roommates namely Dr. Hema Ahuja, Dr. Bhakti Mehra and Dr. Anikta Khandelwal who were her seniors. They would not allow her to perform surgeries and were regularly harassing and humiliating her.
 
Payal had informed her mother Abeda Tadvi and father Salim who lived in Jalgaon and worked in the Zila Parishad office. She was a very hard-working girl, a brave one who graduated with an MBBS degree in Gynaecology from Miraj. A report in the Hindu, quoting her husband Dr. Salman Tadvi says, “When she came to Nair Hospital for her post-graduation, she was asked to temporarily share a room with Dr. Hema Ahuja and Dr. Bhakti Mehra. The two began harassing her soon after.” “The two doctors would go to the toilet and wipe their feet on her mattress and litter it. When she would be away, they would taunt her that she was spending time with her husband,” he said.
 
Her mother Abeda Tadvi is a cancer patient and has been listening to her daughter and standing by her side throughout. She said, “My daughter was extremely strong. But this constant abuse eventually broke her. The three accused should be punished so that it sets an example for others who traumatise and torture students like Payal.”
 
How do you define this treatment of Payal by her Savarna seniors? Is this pure hate crime?
 
All those who are insulting Dalits and Adivasis, humiliating them, compelling them to commit suicide, attacking them, their habitat and their land are criminals and should be dealt with under hate crime laws. The Savarna hate crime must be now on the top of the government agenda if it wants to win ‘sabka vishwas’, the trust of all.
 
The three Savarna doctors must be prosecuted with stringent laws so that this becomes an example but we know very well that the government and its officers have never been sincere in following the constitution and implementing the rule of law. Otherwise, Dr. Payal would not have died.
 
Where are the institutional mechanisms to protect SC/ST students? Her death is an institutional killing like that of Rohit Vemula and the BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai cannot give up its accountability in this regard. Why are institutional mechanisms not strong to deal with the discrimination which is rampant in our educational institutions? Why was there no ‘committee’ which could have acted against these three girls? If there is a committee then what did it do? Who are the members of the committee? Are there SC/ST members in these committees? Can we trust those committees where no member belongs to these communities?
 
For clarification of many, unlike the scheduled castes, the tribes have got reservation irrespective of faiths. Payal belonged to the Bhil community which has about 2.7% of people practising Islam around Maharashtra. The total number of Bhils and Gonds in India is nearly 2.8 crore, which is 27% of the total Adivasi population in India. Among the Muslim Tribal communities, 1.32 lakhs live in Jammu and Kashmir and 1.12 lakh hail from Maharashtra where Bhils are the biggest tribal community, where Islam is one of the practising faiths.
 
Dr. Payal was killed by the three seniors who happened to be women. She became the victim of hate crime where her tribal identity practising Islamic faith might have further aggravated her troubles.
 
How can the racists hate-mongers allow a tribal Muslim doctor, full of confidence and equally meritorious, stand shoulder to shoulder with them? This is the crisis that the caste Hindus suffer.
 
First, they blame that the SC/ST don’t have merit and when people come and join them, they become so notorious that they create obstacles so that these students leave their courses mid-way and return home. Those who remain in the institutions are continuously harassed in the hope they will give up. Payal did not leave the hostel and decided to stay put. There is a limit to one’s patience. She was after all just 26-years-old with no one to help her or even console her. This is what girls from Dalit Adivasi communities face when they are in these Manuwadi institutions. The whole atmosphere in these so-called institutions of merit is so suffocating with Brahmanical arrogance that it kills the students from the Dalit Bahujan Communities.
 
With increasing Brahmanisation in these institutions, further obstacles are being created so that students don’t come up and leave. That is a strategy by the Savarna elite where the institutions and their caste owners are a party to hate crime. Will Maharashtra government act and get this case heard in a fast track court so that the hate criminals get the maximum punishment? Let the government develop a mechanism in all our colleges, universities, institutions as well as offices like women cell, develop special cell for SC/ST communities so that such murders are not repeated and India shows its commitment against caste and race-based prejudices which are the order of the day.
 
Our salute to Dr. Payal Tadvi. Her fighting spirit will remain alive and her death will always remind us of the grave nature of discrimination that exists in our minds and body against Dalits and Adivasis. We will remain the most barbaric, uncivilised and highly prejudiced society if India does not address this issue with honesty. With so many people being kept outside humanity’s reach and the denial of justice to them will never make us a great nation. Time to show real intent to fight against hate crimes against Dalits and Adivasis.

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In a tweet Kumar, who recently contested parliamentary elections from Begusarai reminded everyone of the Rohith Vemula case and said that a nationwide movement was needed to root out casteism.

Dr Tadvi had completed her MBBS and was pursuing second year post graduate studies in the field of gynaecology. Her mother, Abeda Tadvi told News18, “I spoke to her around 4pm that day and she told me that she was being mentally tortured. She had complained to me earlier as well and I had requested the lecturers to address the issue but they ignored it. I also tried to meet the dean, but I was not allowed. I want justice for my daughter.” Dr Tadvi’s mother visited the hospital for her ongoing treatment for cancer and had filed a formal complaint in December 2018 and again on May 10, 2019. Abeda also says that Dr Tadvi was mocked on Whatsapp groups. The young doctor was reportedly told that she would never be allowed into operation theatres or allowed to perform deliveries.

Even Dr Tadvi’s husband Dr Salman had complained to the administration about Payal’s harassment, but very little changed. He told News18, “She first complained about the harassment in December. I met head of the department Dr Shirodkar. After this, Payal’s unit was changed for two months, but when she returned to the same unit after two months, the harassment continued.” Dr Salman further explained to The Hindu, “When she came to Nair Hospital for her postgraduation, she was asked to temporarily share a room with Dr. Hema Ahuja and Dr. Bhakti Mehar. The two began harassing her soon.” He added, “The two doctors would go to the toilet and wipe their feet on her mattress and litter it. When she would be away, they would taunt her that she was spending time with her husband.”

According to friends and colleagues, three senior doctors harassed Tadvi and used casteist slurs while addressing her and even mocked her on Whatsapp groups. They have been identified as Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehar and Ankita Khandelwal. An FIR has been registered against them under sections of the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act, IT Act, as well as section 306 of the IPC. The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has also suspended the trio’s registration.

However, the three accused have rubbished all allegations in a signed statement to the MARD. They claim ‘workload’ cannot be equated with ragging. “You all are aware of the workload in residency and do you all really believe burdened with the workload is ragging (sic)?” The accused feel that they have been wrongly targeted under media pressure and demand a thorough and unbiased inquiry,” reports Mumbai Mirror.

Meanwhile a protest march has been planned in Mumbai on May 28 to demand justice for Dr Tadvi and shed light on caste based oppression.

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